Trump now threatens to impose tariffs on countries that do not accept the US taking over Greenland

“I may impose a tariff on countries that don’t accept the Greenland thing, because we need Greenland for national security. So I may do it,” Trump said at a roundtable on rural health care.

Since his return to the White House in January 2025, the Republican has used tariffs as a political tool against his trading partners, raising rates on imports from Brazil and India by up to 50%, in retaliation for the treatment of the former president. Jair Bolsonaro and the purchase of Russian crude oil, respectively.

The president’s words come after Denmark, on which the autonomous territory of Greenland depends, announced a immediate increase in its military presence on the island and carrying out maneuvers, in order to reduce Washington’s concerns about the security of that island nation and the Arctic region.

France, Germany, United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Netherlands They have joined the initiative and have also sent or will send troops to Greenland, coveted by the Trump Government with the argument of reinforcing its “national security” and preventing it from falling into the hands of China or Russia.

The White House assured this Thursday that these movements do not affect Trump’s objective of controlling Greenland, also rich in precious metals and rare earths, “at all.”

The Danish Government has insisted on the island sovereignty and rejected Washington’s claims, although he committed to creating a working group with the Trump Cabinet to address the “disagreements” on the issue.

This Monday, a bicameral delegation of American parliamentarians highlighted, after a meeting in the Danish Parliament, respect for Denmark’s sovereignty and Greenland’s right to decide for itself.

“We talk about the value of NATO and the obligation to respect the fundamental principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and self-determination,” the Democratic senator from Delaware said at a press conference. Chris Coonswho served as leader of a delegation of eleven congressmen and senators, two of them Republicans.

Coons stressed that the purpose of the visit is to “listen respectfully” and “bring back” to the United States a real vision of the situation in Denmark and Greenland, its autonomous territory, to help “lower the temperature.”

Greenlanders feel no threat to its security from Russia and China, Coons emphasized, adding that both Denmark and its autonomous territory are open to increasing the US military presence and trade exchanges, “if we ask politely.”

“Greenland must be seen as an allynot as an asset,” said the Republican senator from Alaska Lisa Murkowskipromoter of the initiative with the socialist Aaja Chemnitzone of two Greenlandic deputies in the Danish Parliament.