Trump-Greenland dwell updates: EU to carry emergency assembly at the moment after ‘unacceptable’ US tariff threats | EUROtoday
EU diplomats are set to carry an emergency assembly after Donald Trump introduced tariffs towards European nations over their opposition to US management of Greenland.
In a put up on Truth Social, Trump stated 10 per cent tariffs would come into impact on February 1 on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Finland.
Those tariffs would enhance to 25 per cent on June 1 and would proceed till a deal is reached for the US to buy Greenland, Trump stated. The assembly between EU officers will happen at on Sunday round 5pm native time (4pm GMT, 11am ET).
“World Peace is at stake! China and Russia want Greenland, and there is not a thing Denmark can do about it,” Trump stated. He went on to say Greenland is simply protected by two dogsleds.
It has prompted fury in Europe. “Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral European Commission president,” Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council president Antonio Costa said in posts on X.
British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer branded the tariffs “completely wrong”, while French president Emmanuel Macron said the move was “unacceptable”, adding: “No intimidation nor threat will influence us, neither in Ukraine, nor in Greenland.”
UK would never support US purchase of Greenland, minister says
The Independent’s political correspondent Millie Cooke reports:
The UK would never support the US attempt to purchase, a Cabinet minister has confirmed, as tensions grow over the issue.
It comes after Donald Trump ramped up pressure with a pledge to apply tariffs to the UK until a deal is reached for the US to acquire Greenland.
Asked on Sky News whether she can say that the UK will never accept such a proposal, Lisa Nandy said: “Yes, in fact. I imply, the Prime Minister was very clear final evening that we imagine that this determination on tariffs is totally unsuitable.”
The future of Greenland is for the people of Greenland and the people of the Kingdom of Denmark to determine and for them alone. We’ve been consistent about that.
“That is a view that we have expressed to our mates and allies within the American administration”

Rebecca Whittaker18 January 2026 09:30
‘We need to work together, not to divide ourselves’, minister says
The Independent’s political correspondent Millie Cooke reports:
“We must work collectively, not divide ourselves”, Lisa Nandy has said in the wake of Donald Trump’s plan to slap tariffs on Britain amid growing threats to annex Greenland.
The culture secretary told Sky News that the government believes the tariffs “are the unsuitable method”, adding: “We imagine that, at this second, with the intense challenges, particularly within the Arctic area, affecting not simply us, however the United States, Canada and most of Europe, that we must be working collectively so as to resolve them.”
Rebecca Whittaker18 January 2026 09:20
Watch: Greenland residents stage ‘Stop Trump’ protest as president continues threats
Rebecca Whittaker18 January 2026 09:10
Denmark’s foreign minister to visit London
Denmark’s foreign minister is set to make a visit to London tomorrow to discuss the security situation in the Arctic.
The foreign ministry in Copenhagen says Lars Lokke Rasmussen’s visit comes at a time of “geopolitical competition” that places new demands on NATO countries’ coordination.
Rasmussen will also visit Sweden and Norway next week.
Rebecca Whittaker18 January 2026 08:55
‘China and Russia must be having a field day,’ EU’s foreign policy chief says
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, was quick to denounce Trump’s Tariff announcement.
“China and Russia must be having a field day. They are the ones who benefit from divisions among Allies,” she wrote in a post on X.
“If Greenland’s security is at risk, we can address this inside NATO. Tariffs risk making Europe and the United States poorer and undermine our shared prosperity.
“We also cannot let our dispute distract us from the our core task of helping to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.”
Rebecca Whittaker18 January 2026 08:45
EU ambassadors to hold emergency talks after Trump threatens tariffs over Greenland
Ambassadors from the European Union’s 27 member states are meeting today for an emergency session after US president Donald Trump threatened a wave of escalating tariffs on European allies unless the United States is allowed to buy Greenland.
Cyprus, which currently holds the EU’s six-month rotating presidency, said late on Saturday that it had convened the meeting, which EU diplomats said was due to begin at 5pm.
Shweta Sharma18 January 2026 08:30
Trump is facing opposition to his tariff announcement from Democrats
President Donald Trump is facing opposition to his tariff announcement from Democrats, as well as from Europe.
Gregory Meeks, the rating Democrat on the US House Foreign Affairs Committee stated he can be “ offering a resolution to terminate these illegal and absurd tariffs immediately”.
He added that Trump is “manufacturing a foreign crisis” and stated that it’s “incredible that he wants to double down on the stupidity by imposing tariffs on our closest allies,” Sky News reported.
Rebecca Whittaker18 January 2026 08:21
Former Nato chief accuses Trump of ‘gangster’ menace over Greenland
The former chief of Nato has accused Donald Trump of constructing Russian “gangster”-style threats towards Greenland as protests towards US intervention obtained underway in Denmark.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former head of Nato and former Danish prime minister, warned that the US president was utilizing his menace over Greenland as “a weapon of mass distraction from the real threats” resembling Russia’s conflict in Ukraine.
Speaking to the Financial TimesRasmussen stated in relation to Trump’s threats over Greenland: “For me, it’s been a painful process. Since childhood, I have considered the United States as the natural leader of the free world. I’ve even spoken about the US as the world’s policeman”.
Rasmussen’s remarks are notably damning for the US administration, as he as soon as despatched Danish troops to battle with the US in Afghanistan.
“Now we see the United States use a language that’s pretty close to the gangsters that they should control in Moscow, Beijing, etc,” he added.
Shweta Sharma18 January 2026 08:00
Republicans are turning up the rhetoric towards Trump’s plan to take Greenland
At least half a dozen GOP lawmakers have criticized the proposal, calling it unprecedented, damaging to U.S. alliances, and a transfer that might set off impeachment proceedings.
“There’s certainly not an appetite here for some of the options that have been talked about or considered,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune stated this week, in line with Politico. Senator Mitch McConnell, Thune’s predecessor, stated that army motion towards the territory can be “an unprecedented act of strategic self-harm,” which might danger “incinerating” NATO alliances.
In latest weeks, Trump has reiterated his robust curiosity in buying Greenland, doubtlessly by means of army drive, for U.S. nationwide safety functions. He has claimed the Arctic island, residence to about 57,000 folks, faces threats from Russia and China.
Shweta Sharma18 January 2026 07:30
Minority chief Schumer says Democrats will introduce laws to dam these tariffs
Senate minority chief Chuck Schumer stated on Saturday that Democrats would transfer to dam president Donald Trump’s proposed 10 per cent tariffs on European nations, imposed over his demand that the US purchase Greenland.
“Donald Trump’s foolhardy tariffs have already driven up prices and damaged our economy and now he is only making things worse,” Schumer stated in a press release. “It is incredible that he wants to double down on the stupidity by imposing tariffs on our closest allies for his quixotic quest to takeover Greenland.”
“Senate Democrats will introduce legislation to block these tariffs before they do further damage to the American economy and our allies in Europe,” he stated.
Republican senators Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska additionally criticised the tariffs, with Tillis saying they had been “bad for America, bad for American businesses, and bad for America’s allies”.
“We are already seeing the consequences of these measures in real time: our NATO allies are being forced to divert attention and resources to Greenland, a dynamic that plays directly into Putin’s hands by threatening the stability of the strongest coalition of democracies the world has ever seen,” Murkowski wrote on X.
Shweta Sharma18 January 2026 07:00
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/trump-greenland-uk-tariffs-denmark-eu-nato-news-b2902646.html