President Eyes Tariffs As Cudgel In Bid for Greenland

“President Trump threatened to impose tariffs on countries that oppose his efforts to take control of Greenland.

 

"I may do that for Greenland, too. I may put a tariff on countries if they don't go along with Greenland because we need Greenland for national security. So I may do that," the president said at the White House on Friday, adding, "that will end up being the story."

 

Trump said the threat of tariffs against countries such as France and Germany had previously helped him address high prices for prescription drugs. That approach, he said, could help him gain control of Greenland.

 

Trump has said the U.S. must own the semiautonomous Danish territory of about 57,000 people, which is located immediately northeast of Canada, for the U.S.'s national security. The president has said in recent days that if the U.S. doesn't control Greenland, China or Russia will. The White House hasn't ruled out using force to take the territory.

 

Denmark and Greenland have said that the island isn't available and that its people don't want to be part of the U.S.

 

Trump's repeated efforts to annex Greenland have sparked a rare public row with some of his Republican allies in Congress, who have sharply rebuked the plan and said it would violate a North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally's sovereignty and undermine U.S. trust with its European partners.

 

Asked if the U.S. would withdraw from NATO if the alliance doesn't accede to his demands to acquire Greenland, Trump said the U.S. would have "a hole" in its national security without the island.

 

"NATO has been dealing with us on Greenland. We need Greenland for national security very badly. If we don't have it, we have a hole in national security, when it comes to what we're doing in terms of the golden dome and all of the other things," he said.

 

"We have a lot of investments in military. We have got the strongest military in the world that is only getting stronger. And you saw that with Venezuela. You saw that with the attack on Iran, with the knocking out [of] their nuclear capability, potentially. So yeah, we're talking to NATO."

 

Several European countries have sent small numbers of troops to Greenland this week, as part of a mission to deter U.S. interest in the island.

 

A bipartisan congressional delegation visited Copenhagen for discussions with senior Danish officials and lawmakers on Friday, offering messages of reassurance that the legislative branch opposed Trump's wish to annex Greenland.

 

"This is one more example of unhelpful rhetoric. We don't need Greenland for national security," said Rep. Sara Jacobs (D., Calif), who is on the congressional delegation in Copenhagen.

 

"It doesn't change our message of coequal branches of government," she said. "Donald Trump can neither impose tariffs nor abrogate our NATO treaty unilaterally."

 

Some Republican lawmakers are cheering on the president, despite pushback from other colleagues. "It is in the strategic interest of the United States to buy Greenland," Sen. Eric Schmitt (R., Mo.), told Punchbowl News in a recent interview, citing U.S. territory acquisitions from the 19th century.

 

"Louisiana Purchase was a purchase from France. Alaska was a purchase from Russia. If you look again at a map and the relevance that Greenland could have for our strategic defense and critical minerals that we need, and the refining of those critical minerals, actually, I think that's why it's a smart play," he said.

 

Danish lawmakers expressed bafflement and confusion at the president's campaign to take Greenland, given that Greenland and Denmark have both voiced willingness to give the U.S. sweeping military and economic access to the Arctic island already.

 

"I'm not sure if Trump knows how unpopular the U.S. is and President Trump is right now here," said Jan Jorgensen, a Danish member of parliament. "He shouldn't be worried about security because NATO and the U.S. can open as many military bases on Greenland as he would like, so there's no need for Greenland to be American," he said.

 

"There's really a deep disappointment here," he said.

 

The president's comments came after the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland visited Washington in search of a solution.

 

On Wednesday in Washington, Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen of Denmark and Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt of Greenland held an initial meeting with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio about the dispute. A senior Danish official said the meetings were constructive and positive, but conceded they didn't convince the U.S. side to fully back off Trump's aims over Greenland.

 

Rasmussen described the conversation as a positive step forward, with the two sides agreeing to set up a working group and continue talks.” [1]

 

1. President Eyes Tariffs As Cudgel In Bid for Greenland. Thomas, Ken; Gramer, Robbie.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 17 Jan 2026: A1.