U.S. President Donald Trump
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The fake image shared by U.S. President Donald Trump showing Canada, Greenland and Venezuela as U.S. territories.
Picture: truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump

 Major European Union states including Germany and France decried U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats over Greenland as ​blackmail on Sunday (January 18, 2026), as France proposed responding with a range of untested economic countermeasures.

Mr. Trump vowed on Saturday ‌(January 17, 2026) to implement a wave of increasing tariffs on EU members Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands and ​Finland, along with Britain and Norway, until the U.S. is allowed to buy Greenland.

Also read: Why is the U.S. targeting Greenland? | Explained 

All eight countries, already subject to U.S. tariffs of 10% and 15%, have sent small numbers of military personnel to Denmark’s vast Arctic island, as a row with the United States over its future escalates.

“Tariff threats undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral,” they said in a joint statement.

The Danish exercise in Greenland was designed to strengthen Arctic security and posed no threat to anyone, they said, adding that they were ready to engage in dialogue, based on principles of sovereignty and territorial ​integrity.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement she was pleased with the consistent messages from ⁠other states, adding: “Europe will not be blackmailed”, a view echoed by Germany’s Finance Minister and Sweden’s Prime Minister.

“It’s blackmail what he’s doing,” Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel said on Dutch television of Mr. Trump’s threat.

Coordinated European response

Cyprus, holder of the rotating six-month EU presidency, summoned Ambassadors to an emergency ​meeting in Brussels late on Sunday (January 18, 2026) as EU leaders ⁠stepped up contacts.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, visiting his Norwegian counterpart in Oslo, said Denmark would continue to focus on diplomacy, referring to an agreement Denmark, Greenland and the U.S. made on Wednesday to set up a working group.

“Even though we are now being confronted with these threats, we will naturally try to stay on ‌that path,” Rasmussen said.

“The U.S. is also more than the U.S. president. I’ve just been there. There ‌are also checks and balances in American society.” he added.

Meanwhile, a source close to Emmanuel Macron said the French President was pushing to activate the Anti-Coercion Instrument, which could limit access to public ‍tenders, investments or banking activity or restrict trade in services, in which the U.S. has a surplus with the bloc, including digital services.

Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said that while there should be no doubt the EU would retaliate, it was “a ‍bit premature” to activate the instrument.

And Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is closer to the U.S. President than some other EU leaders, described the tariff threat on Sunday as “a mistake”, adding she had spoken to Trump a few hours earlier and told him what she thought.

“He seemed interesting in listening,” she told a briefing with reporters during a trip to Korea.

Britain’s position ‘non-negotiable’

British Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said allies needed to work with the United States to resolve the dispute.

“Our position on Greenland is non-negotiable … It is in our collective interest to work together and not to start a war of words,” she told Sky News.

The U.S. tariff threats call into question trade deals struck with Britain in May and the EU in ⁠July.

The limited agreements have already faced criticism about their lopsided nature, with the U.S. maintaining broad tariffs, while their partners are required to remove import duties.

The European Parliament looks likely now to suspend ​its work on the EU-U.S. trade deal. It had been due to vote on removing many EU import duties on January ⁠26-27, but Manfred Weber, head of the European People’s Party, the largest group in parliament, said late on Saturday that approval was not possible for now.

German Christian Democrat lawmaker Juergen Hardt also mooted what he told Bild newspaper could be a last resort “to bring President Trump to his senses on the Greenland issue”, a boycott of the soccer World Cup that the U.S. is hosting this year.

Published – January 19, 2026 09:53 am IST

Copenhagen:

With Donald Trump doubling down on his Arctic acquisition threats, Greenland’s leader Mute Egede has said he was willing to meet US-President-elect to negotiate the future of the autonomous Danish territory. However, he asserted that Greenland was not interested in becoming American territory, but was willing to discuss what could unite the island and the US.

“We are ready to talk. Cooperation is about dialogue. Cooperation means that you will work towards solutions,” Egede said during a press conference in Denmark with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.

“We have a desire for independence, a desire to be the master of our own house … This is something everyone should respect. Greenland is for the Greenlandic people. We do not want to be Danish, we do not want to be American. We want to be Greenlandic,” he added.

What Does Trump Want?

Donald Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly said he wants to make Greenland a part of the United States. During a press conference in Florida, after his election victory was certified, he went a step further, refusing to rule out economic or military force to take control of it.

“Greenland is an incredible place, and the people will benefit tremendously if, and when, it becomes part of our Nation,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Monday.

Trump first indicated an intention to buy Greenland–an ice-covered island of just 57,000 people– from Denmark in 2019, during his first term as president. However, he was rebuffed.

Since then, Danish and European officials have repeatedly said Greenland was not for sale and its territorial integrity must be preserved.

Why Does Trump Want Greenland?

The island, whose capital Nuuk is closer to New York than the Danish capital Copenhagen, boasts mineral, oil and natural gas wealth, but development has been slow. A 2023 survey showed that 25 of 34 minerals deemed “critical raw materials” by the European Commission were found in Greenland. They include significant quantities of materials used in batteries, such as graphite and lithium, and also so-called rare earth elements used in electric vehicles and wind turbines. However, the Danish territory has banned the extraction of oil and natural gas for environmental reasons.

It is also part of NATO through the membership of Denmark and has strategic significance for the US military and for its ballistic missile early-warning system since the shortest route from Europe to North America runs via the Arctic island. The US military maintains a permanent presence at the Pituffik air base in Greenland’s northwest.

The United States has expressed interest in expanding its military presence, including placing radars there to monitor the waters between the island, Iceland and Britain, which are a gateway for Russian navy vessels and nuclear submarines.

Possible Scenarios For Greenland’s Future

With two NATO allies — the US and Denmark– at odds over the future of the mineral-rich Greenland, we look at four possible scenarios of ending the standoff.

Trump Loses Interest: Some experts speculate that Trump’s threats are just bluster, aimed at pushing Denmark to boost security in Greenland amid threats of both Russia and China seeking influence in the region. Denmark in December announced a new $1.5bn military package for the Arctic. 

While talking to BBC, Elisabet Svane, chief political correspondent for Politiken newspaper noted that what was important in what Trump said was that Denmark has to fulfil its obligations in the Arctic or it’s got to let the US do it. 

However, Marc Jacobsen, associate professor at the Royal Danish Defence College, told the British broadcaster that Trump is using the threats to position “himself before entering office” while Greenland is using the occasion to gain more international authority, as an important step towards independence.

Per the BBC report, so even if the incoming US President were to lose further interest in Greenland now, he has certainly put the spotlight on the issue.

Greenland Gets Independence From Denmark, Seeks Closer Ties With US: Independence for Greenland has been on the agenda for many years, with a general consensus among island residents that Denmark will accept it whenever they vote for it. However, it is an unlikely scenario that Greenland seeks the vote unless its people are given guarantees that they can keep the subsidies they are currently setting from Denmark to pay for welfare schemes like healthcare.

“The Greenland PM may be up in arms now, but in the event that he actually calls a referendum, he will need some kind of convincing narrative about how to save the Greenland economy and welfare system,” the BBC report quoted Ulrik Gad, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, as saying.

In such a scenario, a possible step could be Geenland’s free association with the US, like the one the United States currently has with Pacific states–Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau.

Though Denmark has previously opposed this status for Greenland, current Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is reportedly not completely against it.

With Denmark accepting colonial responsibility, its “understanding of the Greenland historical experience is way better than it was 20 years ago,” Dr Gad noted, adding that the recent discussions “might persuade [Frederiksen] to say – better to keep Denmark in the Arctic, keep some kind of connection to Greenland, even if it’s a looser one.”

But even if Greenland gets its independence from Denmark, it won’t be able to get rid of Americans, who never really left after taking control of the island in World War II, and see it as vital for their security. 

According to Dr Gad, Greenland officials had been in contact with the last two US administrations about Washington’s role as “they now know the US will never leave.”

Trump Follows Through With Economic Threats: There is also a scenario where Trump follows through with its economic rhetoric by drastically increasing tariffs on Danish, or even EU, goods, it can force Denmark into concessions of some kind over Greenland.

But, Professor Jacobsen noted that Denmark has been preparing for such an outcome, and not just because of the Arctic territory.

Amid Trump’s threat of imposing 10 per cent universal tariffs on all US imports, some Danish and other European companies are reportedly considering setting up manufacturing bases in the US.

One of the main Danish industries that could be hardest hit by the tariffs is pharmaceuticals. The US imports products like hearing aids, insulin and the diabetes drug Ozempic from Denmark. Analysts believe that a steep rise in prices of these goods, that would result from these measures, would not find favour with the US public.

Trump Actually invades Greenland: Though the US taking the military route seems far-fetched, with Trump failing to rule it out as an option, the possibility of it happening can’t be negated. If the US decided to go that way, it wouldn’t be hard for it to take control of Greenland, given that they already have bases and plenty of troops on the island.

However, any use of military force by Washington would create an international incident.

“If they invade Greenland, they invade Nato,” said Svane, adding, “So that’s where it stops. Article 5 would have to be triggered. And if a Nato country invades Nato then there’s no Nato.”

Dr Gad noted that with his threats, Trump sounds like Chinese President Xi Jinping talking about Taiwan or Russia’s Vladimir Putin talking about Ukraine. “He’s saying it’s legitimate for us to take this piece of land…If we take him really seriously this is a bad omen for the whole of the Western alliance,’ he said.

Berlin:

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Saturday that the principle of sovereign borders must be protected, days after US President-elect Donald Trump refused to rule out force to seize Greenland.

Speaking to a congress of his Social Democrat party ahead of a general election next month, Scholz said: “The principle of the inviolability of borders applies to every country, regardless of whether it’s in the East or the West,” referring also to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“This is a principle that every state must abide by, whether it’s a small state or a big and powerful one,” he said.

“No country is the backyard of another, no country should have to fear its bigger neighbours. That is a central part of what we call Western values.”

Trump sparked alarm bells on Tuesday when he refused to rule out military intervention over the Panama Canal and Greenland, both of which he has said he wants the United States to control.

That prompted Scholz to tell a hastily called press conference on Wednesday that Trump had caused “notable incomprehension” among EU leaders.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump attends Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S., on December 22, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

First it was Canada, then the Panama Canal. Now, Donald Trump again wants Greenland.

The president-elect is renewing unsuccessful calls he made during his first term for the U.S. to buy Greenland from Denmark, adding to the list of allied countries with which he’s picking fights even before taking office on Jan. 20.

In a Sunday announcement naming his ambassador to Denmark, Trump wrote that, “For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.”

Trump again having designs on Greenland comes after the president-elect suggested over the weekend that the U.S. could retake control of the Panama Canal if something isn’t done to ease rising shipping costs required for using the waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

He’s also been suggesting that Canada become the 51st U.S. state and referred to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “governor” of the “Great State of Canada.”

Stephen Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia, said Trump tweaking friendly countries harkens back to an aggressive style he used during his days in business.

“You ask something unreasonable and it’s more likely you can get something less unreasonable,” said Farnsworth, who is also author of the book “Presidential Communication and Character.”

Greenland, the world’s largest island, sits between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. It is 80% covered by an ice sheet and is home to a large U.S. military base. It gained home rule from Denmark in 1979 and its head of government, Múte Bourup Egede, suggested that Trump’s latest calls for U.S. control would be as meaningless as those made in his first term.

“Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale,” he said in a statement. “We must not lose our years-long fight for freedom.”

Trump canceled a 2019 visit to Denmark after his offer to buy Greenland was rejected by Copenhagen, and ultimately came to nothing.

He also suggested Sunday that the U.S. is getting “ripped off” at the Panama Canal.

“If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to the United States of America, in full, quickly and without question,” he said.

Panama President José Raúl Mulino responded in a video that “every square meter of the canal belongs to Panama and will continue to,” but Trump fired back on his social media site, “We’ll see about that!”

The president-elect also posted a picture of a U.S. flag planted in the canal zone under the phrase, “Welcome to the United States Canal!”

The United States built the canal in the early 1900s but relinquished control to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999, under a treaty signed in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter.

The canal depends on reservoirs that were hit by 2023 droughts that forced it to substantially reduce the number of daily slots for crossing ships. With fewer ships, administrators also increased the fees that shippers are charged to reserve slots to use the canal.

The Greenland and Panama flareups followed Trump recently posting that “Canadians want Canada to become the 51st State” and offering an image of himself superimposed on a mountaintop surveying surrounding territory next to a Canadian flag.

Trudeau suggested that Trump was joking about annexing his country, but the pair met recently at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida to discuss Trump’s threats to impose a 25% tariff on all Canadian goods.

“Canada is not going to become part of the United States, but Trump’s comments are more about leveraging what he says to get concessions from Canada by putting Canada off balance, particularly given the precarious current political environment in Canada,” Farnsworth said. “Maybe claim a win on trade concessions, a tighter border or other things.”

He said the situation is similar with Greenland, with Trump ultimately looking for concessions from Norway.

“What Trump wants is a win and even if the American flag doesn’t raise over Greenland,” Farnsworth said. “Europeans may be more willing to say yes to something else because of the pressure.”