U.S.President Donald Trump arrives at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, in Michigan, U.S., January 13, 2026.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
Eight NATO members’ items despatched to the U.S. will face escalating tariffs “till such time as a Deal is reached for the Full and Complete buy of Greenland,” President Donald Trump introduced Saturday.
The tariffs concentrating on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Finland will begin at 10% on Feb. 1, Trump wrote in a Reality Social submit.
The tariffs will shoot as much as 25% on June 1, the president mentioned.
His submit prompt that the brand new tariffs on the European allies have been being imposed in response to them shifting troops to Greenland. They took that step because the Trump administration has floated using the U.S. army as a part of its ramped-up efforts to accumulate the Danish territory.
The eight nations “have journeyed to Greenland, for functions unknown,” Trump wrote. “This can be a very harmful scenario for the Security, Safety, and Survival of our Planet.”
A day earlier, Trump hinted that he might pursue a tariff technique on Greenland just like the one he used to drive international nations to vary their drug costs.
“I could try this for Greenland too. I could put a tariff on nations if they do not go together with Greenland, as a result of we’d like Greenland for nationwide safety,” he mentioned on the White Home on Friday.
Trump’s newest transfer places additional pressure on NATO, the 32-member army alliance established within the aftermath of World Struggle II. The cornerstone of the alliance is an settlement that an assault on any single member is taken into account an assault on all of them.
European leaders have warned that any try by the U.S. to take Greenland by drive might spell the top of NATO.
A protester takes half in an illustration to indicate help for Greenland in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Jan. 17, 2026.
Tom Little | Reuters
Trump’s tariff announcement might imply he’s dropping the specter of utilizing the army to realize his longtime purpose of taking up the island. But it surely nonetheless ratchets up stress on Denmark and the remainder of Europe, which have flatly acknowledged that Greenland shouldn’t be on the market.
Trump is an enthusiastic fan of utilizing tariffs as a device for gaining political leverage over different nations. He has significantly expanded the federal government’s use of the levies over the previous yr, largely by the bizarre invocation of a regulation granting the president some powers in an financial emergency.
The Supreme Court docket might rule as quickly as subsequent week on whether or not to strike down the tariffs imposed below that regulation.
That is breaking information. Please refresh for updates.
