Major EU states condemn Trump tariff threats, consider retaliation

Trump vowed to implement a wave of increasing tariffs on EU members Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland, along with Britain and Norway, until the U.S. is allowed to buy Greenland

- KALIDAS NEWDELHI

A woman waves a Greenlandic flag as people attend a protest against U.S. President Donald Trump's demand that the Arctic island be ceded to the U.S., calling for it to be allowed to determine its own future, in Nuuk, Greenland

Major European Union states including Germany and France decried U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats over Greenland as blackmail on Sunday (January 18, 2026), as France proposed responding with a range of untested economic countermeasures.

Mr. Trump vowed on Saturday (January 17,2026) to implement a wave of increasing tariffs on EU members Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland, along with Britain and Norway, until the U.S. is allowed to buy Greenland.

All eight countries, already subject to U.S. tariffs of 10% and 15%, have sent small numbers of military personnel to Denmark's vast Arctic island, as a row with the United States over its future escalates.

"Tariff threats undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral," they said in a joint statement.

The Danish exercise in Greenland was designed to strengthen Arctic security and posed no threat to anyone, they said, adding that they were ready to engage in dialogue, based on principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.