President Donald Trump said Saturday that he would charge a 10% import tax starting in February on goods from eight European nations because of opposition to US control of Greenland.
He said in a social media post that Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland would face the tariff, which would be raised to 25% on June 1 if a deal is not in place for “the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland” by the United States.
Earlier Saturday, hundreds of people in Greenland's capital braved near-freezing temperatures, rain and icy streets to march in a rally in support of their own self-governance in the face of threats of an American takeover.
The Greenlanders waved their red-and-white national flags and listened to traditional songs as they walked through Nuuk's small downtown. Some carried signs with messages like “We shape our future,” “Greenland is not for sale” and “Greenland is already GREAT.” They were joined by thousands of others in rallies across the Danish kingdom.
Meanwhile, Danish Maj. Gen. Søren Andersen, leader of the Joint Arctic Command, told The Associated Press that Denmark doesn't expect the US military to attack Greenland, or any other NATO ally, and that European troops were recently deployed to Nuuk for Arctic defense training.
“I will not go into the political part, but I will say that I would never expect a NATO country to attack another NATO country,” he told the AP on Saturday aboard a Danish military vessel docked in Nuuk. “For us, for me, it’s not about signaling. It is actually about training military units, working together with allies.”
Trump has insisted for months that the US should control Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, and said earlier this week that anything less than the Arctic island being in US hands would be “unacceptable.”
During an unrelated event at the White House about rural health care, he recounted Friday how he had threatened European allies with tariffs on pharmaceuticals.
“I may do that for Greenland, too,” Trump said, before his announcement Saturday about his targeted tariffs. “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 had not previously mentioned using tariffs to try to force the issue.
