Name: Trump threatens higher tariffs on opponents of Greenland plan | DW News
Uploaded: 2026-01-17T17:34:32.000Z
Duration: 7 min 44 s
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US President Donald Trump is threatening to impose tariffs on countries that oppose his plan to take over Greenland.

The warning comes after several European nations sent small numbers of troops to the Arctic island, a semi autonomous Danish territory.

Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of US Lawmakers visited Denmark to say that Trump's designs on Greenland don't have the support of the American people.

Greenland, a semi autonomous region of Denmark, is at the centre of rising geopolitical tensions after President Donald Trump renewed his threats that the United States could take the island by force.

This time, Trump went even further and warned he could punish countries that refused to support his plan.

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.

Trump claims the US Needs the mineral rich Arctic island to counter threats from Russia and China, and

has accused Denmark of failing to protect the strategic region.

In response to US Plans, several European nations dispatched small numbers of military personnel to Greenland to strengthen Arctic security.

We are conducting an exercise up here called Arctic Endurance.

It is an exercise that will be running over throughout the 2026 and also maybe next year as well, where we increased our presence here in and around Greenland, and

we do that with Danish troops, but also with allied troops.

Meanwhile in COPENHAGEN, A bipartisan U.S. congressional delegation arrived with a very different message.

They say they want to support Denmark and Greenland, not the annexation of the island.

I think it is important to underscore that when you ask the American people whether or not they think it is a good idea for the United States to acquire Greenland, the vast majority, some 75%, will say, we do not think that that is a good idea.

This senator from Alaska does not think it is a good idea.

Back in Greenland's capital, Nuuk, residents say the political standoff is causing growing anxiety, especially after talks in Washington produced no progress.

I think so there's going to be a war because I think from Europe soldiers are coming here.

I just don't really feel safe with America.

Several European countries have already made their position clear.

Greenland sovereignty is a matter for Denmark and Greenland alone.

His push to take control of Greenland is injecting a new uncertainty into the already tense Arctic region.

DW correspondent Jack Parrack is following this story for us from Brussels today.

Let's start with the reactions from European leaders from where you are on Trump's threats to impose impose higher tariffs on countries who are disagreeing with him on the topic of Greenland.

Well, from a European perspective, that is a totally unacceptable threat.

They haven't publicly come out and said that, but

they in their relations with the United States, the Europeans, especially when Trump had this whole tariffs agenda where he slapped tariffs across the board on many different countries to use tariffs, trade tariffs on the basis of foreign policy demands, especially with an expansionist attitude in the White House.

It's against everything that the European Union basically stands for.

What's interesting is right now, European leaders, so the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the European Council President Antonio Costa, they are in Latin America, in Paraguay and Brazil, to sign off on a very complicated trade deal with the Latin American Mercosur trade bloc.

And the reason that the EU is doing so many of these trade deals and pushing so hard is partly partly because of China, but

also partly because of the United States and this strident tariff agenda that Donald Trump has put forward, trying to use tariffs in order to persuade people round on Greenland.

It was very vague what Trump meant about who he would tariff.

One would assume Denmark, which is going to be unwilling to let Greenland leave the Kingdom of Denmark, but

A bipartisan delegation of US Lawmakers met the leaders of Denmark and Greenland in Copenhagen on Friday, seeking to lower the temperature here.

Yeah, well, they're fighting an uphill battle against the Trump and the White House machine, which has been for so long now well over a year and in fact, much into the past, but

in the past sort of 12 plus months really, is when they.

And these senators, including Republican senators, one of them called it absurd to try and take Greenland.

They are trying to show a different opinion to the Danes, to the Greenlanders, but

also to the wider world that not all of America is.

Is in favor of the annexation of Greenland by the United States.

One of the questions that one would ask this delegation and would press, especially Democrats in the United States, is if Trump does follow through with this threat and eventually use either military force, which it wouldn't, frankly take that much to take Greenland, would a future Democrat president reverse that and give Greenland either its total independence or give it back to the Kingdom of Denmark?

What was also interesting in the past week, Anthony, is that the Greenlandic prime minister, an independentist, once independent from Denmark, came out and said that Greenland would rather stay with Denmark than the United States in a country where pretty much.

All of the political parties want independence from Denmark.

That was a really big statement this week.

Before we go, Jack, Greenland and Denmark are set for anti Trump protest today.

We've seen pictures from Copenhagen already.

I know it's hard for most people to gauge anger, but

you've reported from Greenland, you know, deeply entrenched in the EU matters.

How much public pushback do you feel is coming for Donald Trump?

The reality is the 56, 57,000 people of Greenland, they know that they have very little power when it comes to this sort of issue.

So they're entirely reliant on Denmark and the European Union and the NATO structures of which the United States is a part of for their defense.

So they know that really what they're relying on is Danish and European public sentiment in order to try and push or turn Donald Trump away from this.

It's a really difficult situation for the Greenlanders.

And the people that I've been speaking to say they are actually getting really scared about this situation.