Trump announces 10% tariff on Europe over Greenland, including France, UK, Denmark
· France 24US President Donald Trump on Saturday vowed to implement a wave of rising tariffs on European allies until the United States is allowed to purchase Greenland.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said 10 percent tariffs would come into effect on February 1 on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Finland. Those tariffs would increase to 25 percent on June 1 and would continue until a deal is reached for the United States to undertake the "complete and total purchase" of Greenland, Trump said.
Read moreDoes the US need to ‘own’ Greenland to build Trump's Golden Dome missile shield?
Trump's tariffs target a number of European countries that have at Denmark's request deployed troops in recent days to the vast, mineral-rich territory at the gateway to the Arctic with a population of 57,000.
Ambassadors from the European Union's 27 countries will convene on Sunday for an emergency meeting to discuss the tariffs.
Cyprus, which holds the six-month rotating EU presidency, said late on Saturday that it had called the meeting for Sunday. EU diplomats said it was set to start at 5pm.
European Union leaders on Saturday warned Trump's threat could trigger "a dangerous downward spiral".
"Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral," EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and European Council president Antonio Costa said in a joint statement.
"Europe will remain united, coordinated, and committed to upholding its sovereignty," they added.
France's President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday that the threat of tariffs over Greenland was "unacceptable".
"No intimidation nor threat will influence us, neither in Ukraine, nor in Greenland, nor anywhere else in the world when we are confronted with such situations," Macron said on X.
"Tariff threats are unacceptable and have no place in this context. Europeans will respond to them in a united and coordinated manner if they were to be confirmed."
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said a US invasion of Greenland "would make Putin the happiest man on earth" in a newspaper interview published on Sunday. "If the United States were to use force, it would be the death knell for NATO. Putin would be doubly happy."
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Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Saturday rejected Trump's threat of swingeing tariffs.
"We won't let ourselves be intimidated," he said in a message sent to AFP. "Only Denmark and Greenland decide questions that concern them.
"I will always defend my country and our allied neighbours," he added, stressing that this was "a European question".
Greenlandic minister Naaja Nathanielsen on Saturday praised the reaction of European countries targeted by US President Donald Trump's new tariff threats linked to the future of the Arctic island. "I am amazed to witness the first responses from the targeted countries," the minister for mineral resources said in a message posted on LinkedIn. "I am thankful and hopeful for diplomacy and allieship to prevail."
The US president has repeatedly insisted that Greenland is vital to US security because of its strategic location and large mineral deposits, and has not ruled out using force to take it.
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Trump's threatened purchase of Greenland is roundly rejected by the local population, 85 percent of whom – according to the latest poll published in January 2025 – oppose the territory joining the United States. Only six percent were in favour.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters and AFP)