Donald Trump threatens countries with tariffs if they oppose his Greenland plans
Donald Trump has ratcheted up the pressure on countries who stand in his way of taking over Greenland.
The US president has for several months stated his ambition to annex the territory, part of the Kingdom of Denmark, for security reasons.
For the first time, the US leader suggested he could sanction countries who oppose his plans, drawing comparisons with how he threatened Europe with tariffs on pharmaceutical products.
‘I may put a tariff on countries if they don’t go along with Greenland, because we need Greenland for national security. So I may do that’, he said at a White House event about rural healthcare.
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Trump’s latest warning comes as delegations from the US, Greenland and Denmark met to ease rising tensions.
Earlier this week, the president suggested that anything less than US ownership of the semi-autonomous island was ‘unacceptable’.
Trump claimed previously if his administration doesn’t take action on Greenland, ‘Russia or China will.’
European leaders have stood united in insisting that the future of Greenland is a matter for its inhabitants and Denmark alone.
Meanwhile Denmark itself has bolstered its defence in the territory and increased its military footprint on the island with the help of allies.
It insists that any US attempt to grab the land would spell danger for the Nato alliance.
Its prime minister Mette Frederiksen met on Friday in Copenhagen with a cross-party group of US congressmen and Greenlandic representatives.
Lisa Murkowski, a Republican senator representing Alaska, said Greenland should be viewed as America’s ally rather than an ‘asset’.
She added that all parties needed to ‘nurture’ the relationship that has spanned decades.
It was a markedly differently tone to that struck by Trump earlier in the week, who has repeatedly declined to rule out taking the island by force.
Aside from being rich in natural resources, Greenland boasts an ideal location for keeping track of Russia’s movements.
US control would also bring opportunities to exploit for melting ice caps to create new trans-Arctic trade routes.
The dispute has become a major issue for Greenlandic citizens, who have also edged closer to favouring full sovereign independence according to polling.
However, the territory’s prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen made clear this week that the community would elect to stick with Europe amid ominous threats from the Trump administration.
He said earlier this week: ‘If we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark. We choose Nato. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU.’
Trump’s unusual and ‘erratic’ behaviour even towards US allies has raised the question what the POTUS could do next – and whether the UK has anything to worry about.
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