Sir Keir Starmer has told Donald Trump that applying tariffs on eight European countries over Greenland is “wrong”, Downing Street says. Meanwhile, EU envoys have been holding emergency talks in Brussels. Recap the latest.
Sunday 18 January 2026 23:02, UK
Thanks for following our live updates as European leaders rallied together after Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on eight countries over Greenland.
In a joint statement, those singled out by the US president’s threat said the move undermines “transatlantic relations and risks a dangerous downward spiral”.
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK added that they will “continue to stand united and coordinated in our response” and are committed “to upholding our sovereignty”.
As EU ambassadors held an emergency meeting in Brussels, diplomats poured cold water over reports suggesting the bloc was lining up retaliatory tariffs.
The diplomats said members have agreed to wait until 1 February when Trump said the first tariffs would be introduced, before assessing countermeasures.
Watch: Danish MP says Trump’s Greenland logic ‘flawed’
Meanwhile, European leaders maintained their criticism of the US president’s intention to use tariffs.
In a phone call, Downing Street said Sir Keir Starmer told Trump that the move was “wrong”.
Starmer also told Trump that “security in the High North is a priority for all NATO allies in order to protect Euro-Atlantic interests”.
While Italy might not be one of the countries threatened with the new US tariffs, it didn’t stop the country’s prime minister telling Trump what she thought of the decision.
Giorgia Meloni told reporters during a visit to South Korea this morning that she doesn’t agree with Trump’s tariff announcement and the move was a “mistake”.
Donald Trump doesn’t need Greenland, he wants it, our international correspondent Dominic Waghorn says.
In this video, Waghorn looks at why the US president cares so much about the territory, and how he could go about getting it…
Donald Trump has warned he is “very serious” about annexing Greenland – and has not ruled out taking the territory by force.
The statements are not dissimilar to those the US president has made in the past, but after his administration’s unprecedented military operation in Venezuela last weekend, alarm bells will be ringing louder in the vast Danish territory.
Here’s what you need to know about why Trump wants Greenland and what the territory’s leaders have said in response. Plus, what could the ramifications be?
Trump: US needs Greenland for national security
Greenland, which is northeast of Canada, is a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, and has been for hundreds of years – but Trump claims the US “has to have” it.
Straddling the Arctic circle between the US, Russia and Europe, the island with a population of just 57,000 offers a unique geopolitical advantage that America has eyed for more than 150 years.
Its location makes it a critical site for the US ballistic missile defence system, and it is already home to a large US military base.
The idea of taking Greenland is not a new one for Trump, who raised the possibility during his first term in office by saying he considered purchasing it.
But he has since reiterated the benefit it could have for America’s national security, and has harshened his rhetoric.
The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has held calls with NATO’s secretary general and a host of European leaders including Sir Keir Starmer.
“Together we stand firm in our commitment to uphold the sovereignty of Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark,” she wrote on social media.
“We will always protect our strategic economic and security interests.”
Von der Leyen rounded off her post by calling on allies to “face these challenges to our European solidarity with steadiness and resolve”.
As EU ambassadors have been meeting in Brussels this evening, we’re receiving some updates from diplomats.
They say the EU has no plans to deploy any countermeasures against the US.
That follows an earlier report by the Financial Times suggesting that the retaliatory tariffs were one of the options on the table in Brussels (see 19.00 post).
The diplomats insist the EU is fully committed to finding a solution to the Greenland dispute.
Therefore, members have agreed to wait until 1 February when Donald Trump said the first tariffs would be introduced, before looking into retaliatory measues.
By Mark Stone, US correspondent
The call between Donald Trump and Sir Keir Starmer was “short and cordial” and the prime minister sought to use the conversation to persuade the president that he had misinterpreted the European troop deployment to Greenland.
The Europeans, including the UK, have four central messages which they want the American president to understand.
First, they want to work with America, not against it, to secure Greenland from any foreign threats.
Second, that everything except sovereignty is up for discussion to improve Greenland’s security.
Third, that tariffs are not the way to resolve this disagreement.
And fourth, that the recent deployment of European troops to Greenland was not a provocation against America but part of an attempt to enhance security.
As one European source put it to me: “the deployments are not addressing American aggression but addressing American concerns.”
In his Truth Social post on Saturday, the president appeared angry that some European nations had deployed troops to Greenland “for reasons unknown”. He singled out these countries for his tariff retaliation.
Sources have told me that the prime minister told the president that the military deployments to Greenland had been misinterpreted and should not be seen as a reaction to his desire to own it but rather an effort to look for ways to secure it.
The president, I’m told, thanked the prime minister for the information.
I can recall numerous occasions over the past year when Trump has taken a certain position based on incorrect information he’s been given, often by the last or loudest voice in the room.
The suspicion (or maybe it’s more of a hope) is that this whole Greenland tariff threat is the consequence of voices in the US administration who seek to destabilise the US-EU relationship allowing the president to think that the European troop deployment is a provocation.
If that’s the case, then they hope they can talk Trump out of the tariff threat and return to finding an arrangement through which Greenland can be secured with its sovereignty unchanged – a middle ground compromise.
The concern – as I wrote about here – is that there is no compatibility between the US and European position. So what then?
We’re getting more reports about the possibility of the EU hitting the US with retaliatory tariffs.
An EU diplomat has told Reuters that €93bn (£80bn) in suspended retaliatory tariffs on US goods will automatically come into effect on 6 February.
It follows an earlier report by the Financial Times suggesting that the measure was one of the options on the table in Brussels (see 19.00 post).
The retaliatory package was put on hold back in August when the EU agreed a trade deal with the US, although the report suggested its six-month suspension would expire next month unless the European Commission extends it.
The president of the European Council says he has decided to convene “an extraordinary meeting” in the coming days.
In a post on social media, Antonio Costa says it comes “given the significance of recent developments and in order to further coordinate”.
He outlines Europe’s commitments to six key points after conversations with member states.
They are:
By Alistair Bunkall, Europe correspondent, in Brussels
The mood in Brussels is a mixture of determination and deep concern.
There is, finally, a realisation that Donald Trump isn’t bluffing in his desire to “own” Greenland and a recognition that diplomacy with the erratic US leader might not work this time.
There is also unanimous agreement in European capitals that a forced seizure of Greenland cannot be allowed and the tariffs announced on Saturday against eight countries, including the UK, are wrong.
This is fast becoming the biggest transatlantic crisis in generations.
There is no agreement in yet on how to respond. EU Ambassadors met in Brussels late on Sunday evening to discuss options and assess national positions.
French President Emmanuel Macron is pushing for the strongest response: triggering the EU’s anti-coercion instrument.
This is a lever originally designed to fend off states hostile to the EU, such as China, not something to be used against one of the continent’s historically closest allies.
Taking this option would allow the EU to impose retaliatory tariffs on the US, limit US investment and trade with Europe and restrict access to the single market.
It’s the bloc’s most powerful trade weapon; it’s never been triggered before and using it against Washington would have been previously unthinkable.
Not any longer.
It would almost certainly prompt a backlash from Trump, but it would show the EU is no longer willing to be pushed around by the White House.
Another option being considered is delaying the ratification of the EU-US trade deal that was agreed last summer.
The EU might feel like it’s on firm ground here, having finally signed a major free trade agreement this weekend with five South American countries known as the Mercosur bloc.
The countries involved in this agreement account for around 30% of global GDP and the deal will affect around 700 million consumers.
Although a suspension of the EU-US trade deal would also impact Europe, Brussels might feel it’s in a stronger position than Washington here.
The third option is to continue with diplomacy and keep fingers crossed for a breakthrough.
Trump said that the new tariffs won’t kick in until 1 February – that gives the EU and London a window to act.
Watch: EU ambassadors hold ‘scoping exercise’
Trump has repeatedly threatened tariffs against countries, only to then delay, reduce or quietly scrap them.
The World Economic Forum gets under way in the Swiss resort of Davos this week. Many of Europe’s leaders will be there, as will Trump and the NATO secretary general.
It will be an opportunity for some of them to get in the same room and have face-to-face talks with the US president.
But they will need a stick to wield, so Brussels has only a few days to come up with agreed measures of retaliation to use as leverage and then hope Trump climbs down the ladder.
We’ve been hearing from former US vice president Mike Pence on the morning television programmes in the US.
He said that he supports the US acquiring Greenland, but had concerns over the way Donald Trump is going about it.
“I think it’s a question right now, not of what the president is trying to accomplish, but how,” he told CNN.
“I have concerns about using what I think is a questionable constitutional authority, imposing unilateral tariffs on NATO allies to achieve this objective.”
But Pence reiterated that he supports Trump’s overall aim.
“I think it’s absolutely in the interest of the United States of America,” he said.
“It was Abraham Lincoln’s secretary of state who negotiated the purchase of Alaska, who first suggested that the United States also purchased Greenland.”
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