Overview
- President Donald Trump said a 10% tariff on imports from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the U.K., the Netherlands and Finland will start Feb. 1, rising to 25% on June 1, tied to a demand for the “complete and total” purchase of Greenland.
- EU leaders and the eight targeted countries rejected the move, voiced full solidarity with Denmark and Greenland, warned of a “dangerous downward spiral,” and convened emergency discussions on a coordinated response.
- European officials said recent troop deployments to Greenland were small, pre-planned Danish exercises that pose no threat, while Trump criticized the deployments as a “very dangerous game.”
- Thousands protested in Nuuk and across Denmark, and Greenlandic and Danish leaders reiterated that the island is not for sale and that its future rests with Greenlanders.
- The threatened tariffs imperil a pending U.S.–EU trade deal as senior European lawmakers signal approval is unlikely, while questions over the president’s tariff authority remain before the Supreme Court.