U.S. President Donald Trump arrives at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Michigan, United States, January 13, 2026.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
Goods from eight NATO members sent to the United States will face increasing tariffs “until an agreement is reached for the complete and total purchase of Greenland,” the president said. Donald Trump announced Saturday.
Tariffs targeting Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland will begin at 10% on February 1, Trump wrote in a statement. Truth on social media.
Tariffs will rise up to 25% on June 1, the president said.
The sanctions would likely be in addition to U.S. tariffs already imposed on goods from those countries.
Customs tariffs already imposed by the United States on its allies on average around 15% on goods from European Union countries in Trump’s crosshairs and around 10% on imports from the United Kingdom, with varying rates depending on the sector.
In sensitive areas such as metals and certain automobilesthe cumulative measures have already pushed effective customs duties between 15 and 20%.
Imposing tariffs on one or more members of the 27-nation EU means the new tariffs would apply to everyone. Trump’s demands now threaten EU-US relations trade agreement struck in August.
Manfred Weber, a senior member of the European Parliament (MEP), said a trade deal between the EU and the United States was “not possible at this stage”.
“The EPP supports the EU-US trade deal, but given Donald Trump’s threats regarding Greenland, its approval is not possible at this stage,” he wrote in a message on
EU ambassadors will gather for an emergency meeting on Sunday, Reuters reported. Cyprus, which holds the six-month rotating presidency of the EU, convened the meeting, which is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. local time (11 a.m. ET).
Pricing strategyTrump’s message suggested that new prices on European allies are imposed in response to the movement of troops from these countries to Greenland. They took this action as the Trump administration did. floated using the US military as part of its intensified efforts to acquire Danish territory.
The eight countries “traveled to Greenland, for an unknown purpose,” Trump wrote. “This is a very dangerous situation for the safety, security and survival of our planet.”
A day earlier, Trump had suggested he might pursue a pricing strategy on Greenland, similar to the one he used to force foreign countries to lower drug prices.
“I could do it for Greenland too. I could impose tariffs on countries if they don’t agree with Greenland, because we need Greenland for our national security,” he said at the press conference. White House Friday.
Although the president did not cite specific legal statutes in his Truth Social announcement for his latest measures, it appears to reflect his controversial use of International Emergency Economic Powers Acta law that grants the president broad powers in the event of an “unusual and extraordinary threat.”
THE The Supreme Court could rule next week on the advisability of repealing the customs duties imposed under this law and could immediately jeopardize this new tranche, thus challenging the judiciary to intervene in a new trade war.
Scott Lincicome, a trade policy specialist at the Cato Institute, warned Saturday that the new threat reveals the fragility of relying on unilateral agreements rather than binding treaties.
“Trump’s announcement on tariffs confirms … that his trade agreements can be changed on a whim and are unlikely to curb his daily tariff impulses,” Lincicome said in a statement. “Today’s threat underscores the hollow justifications for Trump’s so-called ‘emergency’ tariffs, which expose the economic and geopolitical problems created by unlimited executive power.”
Servicemen suspected of belonging to the Bundeswehr of the German Armed Forces disembark from a charter plane upon arrival at Nuuk International Airport on January 16, 2026 in Nuuk, Greenland, the day after it arrived carrying Danish military personnel.
Alessandro Rampazzo | AFP | Getty Images
European responseAcross Europe, targeted countries have responded with condemnation, calling the tariffs a hostile act against close military allies, threatening the very fabric of the transatlantic partnership.
President of the European Commission Ursula von der LeyenWHO is the spearhead of the bloc’s trade policyharshly criticized the White House ultimatum, framing the tariffs not just as a trade dispute but as a test of Western values.
“We choose partnership and cooperation,” von der Leyen wrote in an article on Bluesky shortly after the announcement. “We choose our companies. We choose our people.”
Similarly, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told MS Now on Saturday that Trump’s decision was a “surprise,” citing a recent article. “constructive meeting” with the American vice president J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Frederiksen pushed back against Trump’s claims about the troop movements, saying the increased presence was intended solely to “enhance security” in an Arctic region that is “no longer a low-tension zone,” and that it was carried out in “full transparency” with U.S. allies.
Other European leaders were just as firm. President of the European Council Antonio Costa said on Saturday that the bloc was “coordinating a common response” to the threat.
“The European Union will always be very firm in defending international law, wherever it is,” Costa said at a press conference on Saturday following the signing of a trade agreement between the two countries. EU and South American countries in Paraguay.
French President Emmanuel Macron also spoke, publication on that “no intimidation or threats will influence us”. Macron warned that “the stabilizing forces have awakened” and promised that France would stand firm alongside its neighbors.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson categorically rejected Trump’s tariff threats.
“We will not allow ourselves to be blackmailed,” he wrote on X, adding that “only Denmark and Greenland decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned the new tariffs played into the hands of China and Russia.
“China and Russia must have a field day. They are the ones who benefit from the divisions between allies,” she writes in a message on X. “If Greenland’s security is threatened, we can address it within NATO.”
A protester takes part in a demonstration to show support for Greenland in Copenhagen, Denmark, January 17, 2026.
Tom Petit | Reuters
NATO tensions and legal battlesTrump’s latest decision further strains NATO, the 32-member military alliance created after World War II. The cornerstone of the alliance is an agreement that an attack on one member is considered an attack on all.
European leaders have warned that any attempt by the United States to take Greenland by force could mean the end of NATO.
Trump’s announcement on tariffs could mean he is abandoning the threat of military action to achieve his long-held goal of seizing the island. But it nevertheless increases pressure on Denmark and the rest of Europe, which has categorically declared that Greenland is not for sale.
Lawmakers call for de-escalationAs the White House stepped up its pressure, a bipartisan US congressional delegation in Copenhagen opposed Trump’s speech.
“There is no urgent threat to the security of Greenland,” Senator Chris CoonsD-Del., told reporters Saturday morning.
Coons and It is. Lisa MurkowskiR-Alaska, led the trip to “restore a sense of trust” with Greenland, Coons said.
Both senators disputed Trump’s characterization of European troop movements as a conspiracy to block U.S. acquisition of the island, instead hailing the deployments as NATO partners “stepping up,” Coons said, to protect the High North from Russian aggression.
“Seeing active training and deployments in one of the most difficult and isolated places on the planet … we should take it as an encouraging signal,” Coons said.
Murkowski stressed that despite the president’s attacks, support for Denmark remains strong, regardless of party.
“You can’t allow this to become a partisan issue,” she said. “Support for our friends and allies…should not be.”
Similarly, Senators Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., both members of the bipartisan NATO observer group in the Senate, have warned that threats of tariffs against NATO allies are “bad for America” and would increase costs for American families while benefiting adversaries like Russia and China.
The lawmakers said Danish and Greenlandic officials wanted to “partner with the United States,” urging the administration to “end threats and use diplomacy.”
— Terri Cullen contributed to this report.
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