President Trump Friday threatened to slap larger tariffs on imports from nations that oppose his push to take over Greenland.
Talking at an occasion that was alleged to be centered on rural well being care, Trump mentioned he wouldn’t tolerate allies or rivals searching for to dam his effort to regulate the Arctic island, which is a semi-autonomous abroad territory of NATO ally Denmark.
“I may put a tariff on countries if they don’t go along with Greenland,” he mentioned, with out offering any particulars. “We need Greenland for national security.”
Trump had not beforehand talked about utilizing tariffs to attempt to leverage help for his proposed Greenland seizure. He has not dominated out utilizing power to grab the huge mineral-rich island, which sits on the maritime method to North America.
The Supreme Court docket is contemplating a swimsuit difficult the legality of Trump’s tariffs, that are supposed to deal with an “economic emergency” of excessive commerce deficits, not geopolitical disputes like Greenland.
The brand new menace got here as a bipartisan congressional delegation arrived in Denmark for talks with Danish and Greenlandic officers.
A number of Republicans have joined just about all Democratic lawmakers in opposing Trump’s Greenland transfer.
Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada Friday additionally slammed the concept of the U.S. shopping for or invading Greenland, saying the island’s 57,000 folks have the suitable to find out their very own future.
The overseas ministers of Denmark and Greenland held chilly talks in Washington this week with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, however didn’t bridge their vast hole on the difficulty.
They did conform to arrange a high-level working group to maintain communication open with the U.S.
A number of NATO allies, together with France, Germany and Sweden have despatched contingents of troops to Greenland together with Denmark.
The Europeans have warned a U.S. assault on Greenland would consequence within the collapse of the NATO alliance, which is designed to supply mutual safety for the member states.
