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Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on trading partners that do not back his efforts to acquire Greenland as he redoubles his drive to take over the Arctic island.
“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,” the US president said at a White House event on Friday.
Trump has strengthened his rhetoric about wanting the Danish territory in recent weeks and has not ruled out using military force to take it, rattling Washington’s European allies. Trump says that if the US does not take the Arctic island, Russia or China would claim it.
In an attempt to rebut Trump’s designs on the island, some European Nato members, including Denmark, this week agreed to send troops to reinforce Greenland’s security and called for a more permanent presence on the island.
Asked on Friday whether he would pull the US from Nato if the alliance does not help him acquire the territory, Trump said: “Well we’re going to see. Nato has been dealing with us on Greenland. We need Greenland for national security very badly.”
“If we don’t have it, we have a big hole in national security, especially when it comes to what we’re doing in terms of the Golden Dome,” he added, referring to the $175bn layered missile defence shield he has ordered to be made to protect the US against advanced missile threats.
The threat to impose tariffs on US trading partners if they do not support Trump’s push to acquire Greenland threatens to drive a new wedge between Washington and its European trading partners.
Any substantial increase in duties could also derail trade deals struck between foreign capitals and Washington last year, including with the EU and UK, threatening a sharp escalation of global trade tension at a time of geopolitical instability.
The president on Friday said his previous tariff threats to the leaders of countries including France and Germany had resulted in those countries co-operating with him on lowering drug prices and a similar approach could help him get the island. “I may do that for Greenland too,” he said.
Danish politicians reacted to the tariff threat with dismay.
“We are dealing with a completely unpredictable president . . . We are dealing with a man who cannot be trusted, who is unpredictable, and who is certainly driven by the violence of his emotions,” said Inger Støjberg, a former minister and head of the Danish Democrats party.
Trump has previously said he would like to strike a deal with Denmark and Greenland over acquiring the territory.
“I hope to make a deal with them. It’s easier,” Trump said on Sunday. “But one way or the other, we’re going to have Greenland.” The White House earlier this month said “utilising the US military is always an option”.
The tariff threat comes two days after the US, Denmark and Greenland agreed to establish a high-level working group to discuss the island’s future. However, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Danish foreign minister, on Wednesday said “fundamental disagreement” remained between the two sides.
Trump’s threat also marks his latest effort to deploy tariffs to bludgeon foreign governments into aligning with US foreign policy goals.
Last year the US placed duties on Mexico, Canada and China over their role in fentanyl manufacturing, hit Brazil with extra levies over its treatment of former president Jair Bolsonaro and applied 25 per cent extra fees to countries purchasing Russian oil.
Trump earlier this week threatened to impose a tariff of 25 per cent on all countries trading with Iran in a move that could affect China and India, but his administration has not taken steps to apply the levies.
Some Republicans on Capitol Hill have publicly broken with the president over his drive to take Greenland and a bipartisan group of US lawmakers visited Denmark on Friday to offer their support to Copenhagen and express their opposition to Trump’s plans.
“Greenland needs to be viewed as our ally, not as an asset. And I think that’s what you’re hearing with this delegation,” Republican senator Lisa Murkowski said.
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