European leaders are seeking to de-escalate tensions with the United States over Greenland, even as Donald Trump doubles down on threats to impose additional tariffs on eight European countries to pressure the sale of the island.
Trump wrote on Truth Social:
“NATO has told Denmark for 20 years, ‘You must remove the Russian threat from Greenland.’ Unfortunately, Denmark has been unable to do anything about this. Now it’s time, and it will happen!!!”
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned Trump’s escalation as “completely wrong” and pledged to find a “pragmatic, reasonable, and sustainable” solution to the “serious” crisis.
“A trade war is in no one’s interest,” Starmer said, urging national unity.
From Berlin, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called for dialogue and warned that sudden tariffs would harm both sides of the Atlantic:
“We want to avoid any escalation in this disagreement if possible. We simply want to try to solve this problem together, and the U.S. government knows that we can also retaliate. I do not want to, but if necessary, we will certainly protect our European interests as well as our German national interests,” Merz stated.
Multiple meetings, including EU-U.S. talks, are expected on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, where global leaders will convene this week. EU leaders are also set to meet later in Brussels for an extraordinary summit.
