Trump crosses a line
The US President announced tariffs on the UK and European nations over Greenland
After toying with coming to the aid of Iran’s brave protestors but then deciding against it, Donald Trump moved his attention to an easier and familiar punching bag – Europe.
Declaring that he wants to acquire Greenland, the US President threatened to tear up the trade deals he struck with the UK and the European Union last year and impose new tariffs until he can buy the Danish-administered territory. Denmark is a member of NATO and the European Union.
‘We have subsidised Denmark and all of the countries of the European Union, and others, for many years by not charging them tariffs, or any other forms of remuneration,’ he said, in a lengthy post on Truth Social.
‘China and Russia want Greenland, and there is not a thing that Denmark can do about it.
‘On top of everything else, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland have journeyed to Greenland for purposes unknown.
‘These countries, who are playing this very dangerous game, have put a level of risk in play that is not tenable or sustainable.’
Trump said that from February 1, the named countries would have a ten per cent tariff imposed on all exports to the US and that this would be increased from June to 25 per cent.
He said the tariffs would be payable until ‘a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland.’
Despite obsessing about the single market, which he complains was cooked up to destroy the United States, it appears to continually escape Trump that he cannot impose tariffs on any one or a selection of EU members. Therefore, he is inviting a trade war with the European Union, which governs trade for all 27 member states.
Trump’s push for Greenland is not new. Still, it has taken on a new intensity since his military raid on Venezuela to capture its leader, Nicolas Maduro and take him to the United States to face charges of drug smuggling.
Where once he was considered merely an ‘unreliable ally,’ the US President is increasingly looking to Europeans like a menacing and dangerous gamekeeper on the verge of turning poacher.
The Europeans have been upping their own responses. Denmark warned that an attack on Greenland would see the end of NATO — something many in MAGA would cheer — and organised a joint exercise, Operation Arctic Endurance.
France made a particular show, with President Emmanuel Macron, who is in the domestic political dustbin, staging an enormous send-off to specialist troops to deploy to Greenland on Thursday.
‘France has decided to join the exercise that was scheduled and launched by Denmark in a sovereign and independent manner as part of Arctic Endurance,’ the French President said.
Macron said troops (around two dozen) already in Greenland would be reinforced by land, air and sea assets.
Macron’s high-visibility deployment, for so few troops, was in contrast to the muted way in which other allies, Germany, Norway, Sweden and the UK sent their support, which in Britain’s case, was just a single military officer, quietly confirmed by the Defence Secretary John Healey.
Whatever message Macron intended to send to Washington with his khaki day out, Trump hit back with more punch, threatening a trade war.
Macron said on X that France was committed to the sovereignty and independence of nations and referenced the war in Ukraine alongside the White House’s threats.
‘No intimidation or threat will influence us—neither in Ukraine, nor in Greenland, nor anywhere else in the world when we are confronted with such situations,’ he said.
‘Tariff threats are unacceptable and have no place in this context.’
The UK’s Keir Starmer, who is far more reluctant to criticise Trump in public, said the US President’s move was ‘completely wrong.’
‘Arctic Security matters for the whole of NATO and allies should all do more together to address the threat from Russia across different parts of the Arctic,’ he said.
‘Applying tariffs on allies for pursuing the collective security of NATO allies is completely wrong.
‘We will of course be pursuing this directly with the US administration.’
The reaction from Europe’s populists, the parties that Trump’s MAGA movement is promoting, was mixed.
Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, was tepid.
‘We don’t always agree with the US government and in this case we certainly don’t,’ he said.
‘These tariffs will hurt us. If Greenland is vulnerable to malign influences, then have another look at Diego Garcia.’
Diego Garcia is the largest island in the Chagos Islands, which hosts a joint US-UK military base.
Starmer’s government has agreed to relinquish the Indian Ocean territory and hand control to Mauritius, which is opposed by Reform and the Conservatives. However, the Trump Administration has not been a vocal critic of the handover, despite attempts by some Conservatives to have Trump publicly admonish Labour’s deal.
Jordan Bardella, the president of France’s far-right National Rally, was far punchier.
‘The threats issued by Donald Trump against the sovereignty of a state, all the more so a European one, are unacceptable,’ he said.
‘Commercial blackmail is no more tolerable.’
He and politicians from Europe’s mainstream centre-right and centre-left parties all called for the trade deal the European Commission struck with Trump in Scotland last July, which has still not been ratified, to be put on hold or scrapped.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the EU stood in full solidarity with Denmark and Greenland.
‘Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral,’ the President said in a joint statement with Antonio Costa, the President of the European Council.
Europe has had to withstand Trump’s intemperate whims before. Last year, it settled for a trade bargain rather than using the power of the single market to take on the US, as China did, because of the need to keep the President onside to broker peace in Ukraine. This resisted fierce internal pressure to use the single market’s size and strength to give Trump a taste of his own medicine.
These calls will be harder to stare down. Trump’s open and emboldened naked imperialism appears to have crossed a line for all.
‘This is demented. Outright batshit crazy. Where are the adults in the room? Why will no one rein him in?’ Daniel Hannan, the former Conservative Member of the European Parliament, founder of Vote Leave, and Tory peer, said.
And this really is the question. One answer is the Supreme Court, which may rule on Tuesday on whether Trump’s tariffs are legal.
The other is Congress. A handful of Republicans began pushing back.
Republican Congressman Don Bacon from Nebraska said on CNN that if Trump went ahead with his threats on Greenland, ‘it would lead to impeachment.’
Being impeached (again) is something Trump is very worried about. This month, he told Republicans they had to win in the November midterms because otherwise the Democrats would impeach him.
He obviously did not contemplate his own side launching proceedings.
‘Congress must work together to reassert our Constitutional authority over tariffs so that they are not weaponised in ways that harm our alliances and undermine American leadership,’ Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski from Alaska said.
Thom Tillis, who is retiring as a Republican Senator and has already fallen out with Trump, said Trump’s move was great for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
‘The fact that a small handful of “advisors” are actively pushing for coercive action to seize territory of an ally is beyond stupid,’ he said.
Chuck Schumer, Senate Democratic Leader, said Democrats would introduce legislation to prohibit the tariffs.
‘It is incredible that he wants to double down on the stupidity by imposing tariffs on our closest allies for his quixotic quest to take over Greenland,’ he said.
‘Senate Democrats will introduce legislation to block these tariffs before they do further damage to the American economy and our allies in Europe.’
Asked earlier this month by The New York Times if there were any limits to his global power, Trump responded: ‘Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.’
We may be closer to finding out if that is true.