Trump’s tariff threat over Greenland risks ‘dangerous downward spiral’, warn Nato members – Europe live

US senator Mark Kelly, a former US Navy pilot and Democrat who represents Arizona, posted that Trump’s threatened tariffs on US allies would make Americans “pay more to try to get territory we don’t need.”

“Troops from European countries are arriving in Greenland to defend the territory from us. Let that sink in,” he wrote on social media.

“The damage this president is doing to our reputation and our relationships is growing, making us less safe. If something doesn’t change we will be on our own with adversaries and enemies in every direction.”

Here is our video report from yesterday’s protests in both Greenland and Denmark against Donald Trump’s insistence the US should take control of the self-governing territory

Earlier this week my colleague Tom Burgis published a fantastic profile on Ronald Lauder, which is included in this week’s six great reads of the week round-up. ​Lauder is a longtime friend of Donald Trump and the man who first proposed Arctic expansion to him.

Heir to the Estée Lauder cosmetics fortune,​ he is now making deals in the island. ​T​he piece explore​s the reasons behind Trump and Lauder’s fixation with Greenland.

Donald Trump’s latest tariff threat, in pursuit of his goal of seizing Greenland, is a political nightmare for European leaders, but it could create a severe economic headache, too.

As the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has repeatedly pointed out since Trump’s trade war began in earnest last year, whatever the ultimate level of tariffs, uncertainty takes its own toll.

And as IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva put it in October, in the Trump era, “uncertainty is the new normal”.

Businesses tend to hold back from new investment when they are unsure what the policy landscape will eventually look like – as the UK learned to its cost during several years of Brexit wrangling after the 2016 referendum.

And this latest threat comes just as businesses in the UK and the EU believed they could plan with certainty, after much-vaunted trade deals with the US were struck and signed with ceremony last summer.

If Trump goes ahead with 10% tariffs in February – rising to a punitive 25% on 1 June – it will throw sand in the wheels of the economy at a fraught moment, with France deep in a budgetary crisis, and Germany hoping for an economic upturn after stagnating in 2025.

For UK chancellor Rachel Reeves, the timing could not be worse, just as she had cause to hope for a modest upturn after a difficult 12 months.

Yet, ironically, one of the most significant risks of Trump’s latest tantrum lies at home, with the threat of resurgent prices.

Donald Trump’s threat to impose fresh tariffs on eight European countries – UK, Norway and six EU member states – is a wrecking ball to the carefully stitched deals he concluded with those countries last summer.

The two biggest voting blocs in the European parliament, the European People’s Party (EPP) and the Socialists & Democrats (S&Ds), said on Saturday night the deal with the EU cannot be approved in the present circumstances.

Trump’s threat also disregards the fact that individual member states do not have individual trade deals with the US. All EU international trade deals are conducted centrally through Brussels, as was the case last summer.

The EU-US trade deal was agreed under considerable pressure from Trump at his Scottish golf course last July. However, while it has entered into force in the US, the 0% tariffs promised to the US have yet to be legally ratified in the EU.

“The EPP is in favour of the EU-US trade deal, but given Donald Trump’s threats regarding Greenland, approval is not possible at this stage,” said Manfred Weber, the leader of the EPP. “The 0% tariffs on US products must be put on hold.”

Kathleen Van Brempt, vice-president for trade for the S&Ds, said there could be “no trade deal under [the] given circumstances”.

Later on Saturday, the liberal voting bloc Renew said it would join attempts to halt the ratification of the US trade deal.

Thousands of Greenlanders carefully marched across snow and ice to take a stand against Donald Trump on Saturday. They held signs of protest, waved their national flag and chanted “Greenland is not for sale” in the face of increasing threats of an American takeover.

Just as they finished their trek from the small downtown of Greenland’s capital city, Nuuk, to the US consulate, the news broke that Trump had announced he would charge a 10% tariff on eight European countries from February over their opposition to US control of Greenland.

“I thought this day couldn’t get any worse, but it just did,” Malik Dollerup-Scheibel said after the Associated Press told him about Trump’s announcement. “It just shows he has no remorse for any kind of human being now.”

Dollerup-Scheibel, a 21-year-old Greenlander, and the Greenland prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, were among what others described as the island’s biggest protest, drawing nearly a quarter of Nuuk’s population.

Others held rallies and solidarity marches across the Danish realm, including in Copenhagen, as well as in the capital of the Inuit-governed territory of Nunavut in Canada’s far north.

“This is important for the whole world,” a Danish protester, Elise Riechie, said as she held Danish and Greenlandic flags in Copenhagen. “There are many small countries. None of them are for sale.”

In Nuuk, Greenlanders of all ages listened to traditional songs as they walked to the consulate. Marie Pedersen, a 47-year-old Greenlander, said it was important to bring her children to the rally “to show them that they’re allowed to speak up”.

“We want to keep our own country and our own culture, and our family safe,” she said.

Her nine-year-old daughter, Alaska, crafted her own “Greenland is not for sale” sign. The girl said her teachers have addressed the controversy and taught them about Nato at school.

“They tell us how to stand up if you’re being bullied by another country or something,” she said.

Irish foreign affairs minister Helen McEntee has slammed a threat of US tariffs on a number of EU member states, the UK and Norway as “completely unacceptable and deeply regrettable”.

“Peace and security depend on all UN member states abiding by the fundamental principles of the UN Charter,” she said.

“There can be no lasting peace and security in a world where these principles are ignored and undermined.

“Ireland has been crystal clear that the future of Greenland is a matter to be determined by Denmark and by the Greenlandic people, in line with well-established democratic principles and international law.

“This is a position that will not change. Respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states is non-negotiable. It is a fundamental principle of the United Nations Charter and of international law. It is what keeps all countries - large or small, militarily aligned or neutral - safe and secure.”

She added:

We are coordinating closely with our EU and wider European partners in response to this announcement. The only way forward to resolve issues of concern to the US, or to any other country, is through respectful engagement.

Denmark and Greenland have confirmed on multiple occasions that they are open to proactive constructive dialogue on all issues.

Keir Starmer said Donald Trump’s decision to impose 10% tariffs on the UK and seven other European countries over Greenland was “completely wrong”.

In a Truth Social post, Trump said: “Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, The United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland have journeyed to Greenland, for purposes unknown … This is a very dangerous situation for the Safety, Security, and Survival of our Planet.”

The UK prime minister said on Saturday evening: “Our position on Greenland is very clear – it is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and its future is a matter for the Greenlanders and the Danes.

“We have also made clear that Arctic security matters for the whole of Nato and allies should all do more together to address the threat from Russia across different parts of the Arctic.

“Applying tariffs on allies for pursuing the collective security of Nato allies is completely wrong. We will of course be pursuing this directly with the US administration.”

The United States will also suffer if president Donald Trump implements threats to impose tariffs on European countries opposing his plans to acquire Greenland, a French minister said on Sunday.

“In this escalation of tariffs, he has a lot to lose as well, as do his own farmers and industrialists,” French agriculture minister Annie Genevard told broadcasters Europe 1 and CNews.

An extraordinary meeting of EU ambassadors has been called in Brussels for Sunday afternoon.

“The European Union has potential strike force” from a commercial standpoint, Genevard said.

“This is a response that must be handled with caution, because this escalation could be deadly – but it could also be deadly for the United States.”

Any US takeover of Greenland would be “unacceptable”, the minister added. “It is clear that the Europeans will not let the United States do as it pleases.”

Emmanuel Macron hit back at Donald Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on any country opposing his Greenland takeover, warning that “no amount of intimidation” will persuade European nations to change their course on Greenland.

Macron’s message was echoed by the Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, who warned the EU would not be “blackmailed” by Trump, and the Norwegian prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, who said “threats have no place among allies”.

In a joint statement, EU leaders said “tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral”. EU ambassadors are expected to meet for an emergency session on Sunday.

Trump’s threats appear to have fired up the EU, which up to now has been loathe to go down a confrontational path, with MEPs threatening to pause the ratification of the US trade deal next week.

Manfred Weber, the head of the European People’s party, the largest voting bloc in the institute, said they would have to pause the legal rubber stamping process.

The UK needs to have an “adult debate” with the US after Donald Trump threatened to ramp up tariffs until a deal is reached for the US to acquire Greenland, culture secretary Lisa Nandy said.

She said Keir Starmer will talk to Trump at the “earliest opportunity” but could not say if that would be at Davos in the coming week.

She told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “Often, with this particular US administration, the president will express a very strong view. He will then encourage a dialogue.

“He welcomes difference of opinion, and we will never shy away from standing up for what we believe is right, or asserting British interests. And what often happens is a negotiation.”

She rejected that Trump would “chicken out”.

“I don’t think he’ll chicken out. I think this is actually a really serious issue, and I think it deserves a far more adult debate than us threatening the United States and the United States threatening us.”

She said “the one thing that we won’t do is compromise on our position” that Greenland’s future is a matter for the people of Denmark and Greenland.

“That is non-negotiable. That is the starting point for the conversation.

Some more from the UK’s culture secretary Lisa Nandy on Greenland this morning.

Speaking to Sky News, she said:

As the prime minister has very clearly said we disagree with this decision.

We’re going to go and have that conversation with our American counterparts, and while we’re having that conversation with them, we’re also going to be talking about the security of the United Kingdom and the United States and how our interests are better served by working together.

Our position on Greenland is non-negotiable, that we’ve made that very clear, and we’ll continue to make that clear.

President Trump’s position on Greenland is different, notwithstanding that it is in our collective interest to work together and not to start a war of words.