WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump, who called himself “the tariff king,” threatened to impose tariffs on other countries to pressure them into allowing the United States to annex Greenland.
Trump has insisted on controlling Greenland, a semi-autonomous part of Denmark, by arguing that it is vital for minerals and Arctic shipping lanes. But his proposal set off an international firestorm, with opposition from leaders in Denmark and Greenland, elsewhere in Europe and among bipartisan members of Congress.
Trump’s comments came at a health care event at the White House, where he trumpeted how the threat of tariffs forced other developed countries to accept higher drug prices so U.S. prices could come down.
“I may do that for Greenland, too,” Trump said Jan. 16. “I may put a tariff on countries if they don’t go along with Greenland because we need Greenland for national security. I may do that.”
He didn’t elaborate on how much the tariffs would be or which countries he would impose them on. But tariffs he has already imposed led to a temporarily halt in trade with China and pressured other countries to open their doors to more trade and companies to invest more in U.S. factories.
The Supreme Court could rule at any time on the legitimacy of tariffs that Trump imposed unilaterally around the world that have raised hundreds of billions of dollars from the taxes on imports from abroad.
“I’m the tariff king and the tariff king has done a great job,” Trump said. “I hope we win the Supreme Court case because if we don’t, it’d be a shame for our country.”
Trump told reporters later, as he left the White House, that he is talking with NATO about his interest in controlling Greenland. He has refused to rule out a military intervention despite the U.S. and Denmark being allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a group created for members to jointly defend each other.
“NATO has been dealing with us on Greenland,” Trump said. “We need Greenland for national security very badly. If we don’t have it, we have a big hole in national security.”
Denmark’s top diplomat met Jan. 14 with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio but said the allied nations were at an impasse. Officials from both countries are expected to meet again every few weeks to continue negotiations.
“We didn’t manage to change the American position,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said. “It’s clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland. We made it very, very clear that this is not in the interest of the kingdom.”