BBC Expert Says Donald Trump May Be 'Looking For A Way' To Back Down Over Greenland

A BBC expert says Donald Trump may be “looking for a way” to back down on his threat to impose tariffs on the UK and seven other European countries for opposing his plan to take over Greenland.

Reports suggest that the US president may have misunderstood why the countries sent military representatives to the Arctic island in recent days.

In a Truth Social post on Saturday, Trump said they had done so “for purposes unknown”.

However, it has been widely viewed as an attempt to convince the president that Europe can defend Greenland without a US takeover.

On Radio 4′s Today programme on Tuesday, BBC Washington correspondent Anthony Zucher said: “It seems that things have been ramping up day after day now. Donald Trump continued to put pressure on the Europeans.

“Now we’re maybe getting some signs that the Trump administration, the Trump side, Donald Trump personally, is looking for a way to walk this back a bit, saying maybe there was a misunderstanding of the purpose that the European nations sent troops to Greenland.

“It feels like maybe the Trump administration realises that they can’t keep turning up the pressure. The more they turn it up, the more the Europeans are going to push back.

“If you want to get into a staring contest with some of your closest allies, even this president and this administration may have come to the conclusion that that is not a great avenue to pursue.”

He said that Republican politicians are also privately uneasy about Trump’s behaviour.

“They will say – maybe not on the record – that this is very concerning because it is driving another wedge between the United States and its allies,” Zucher said.

“Threatening tariffs over trade imbalances is one thing, threatening tariffs because you want to acquire territory from an ally, in their view would be a different matter.”

Nevertheless, Trump appeared to double down on Tuesday morning with an extraordinary attack on Keir Starmer’s decision to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

He said: “The UK giving away extremely important land is an act of GREAT STUPIDITY, and is another in a very long line of National Security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired. Denmark and its European Allies have to DO THE RIGHT THING.”