(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Friday said he is considering imposing tariffs on countries that don’t support his efforts to acquire Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory.
“I may put a tariff on countries if they don’t go along with Greenland, because we need Greenland for national security,” Trump said at an unrelated event on rural health care at the White House.
His comments leave many questions about what it would mean with recent U.S. trade agreements struck with European allies, particularly those with the United Kingdom and European Union.
Trump’s tariff threat comes after European nations have voiced objections to Trump’s repeated messaging about taking over Greenland, either by buying the island territory or by using military force.
In a show of support for Greenland, French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that a group of French troops were on the ground there to take part in military exercises with Danish forces and those from other NATO countries, including Germany, Norway, and Sweden.
Macron’s announcement came a day after top officials from Greenland and Denmark, following meeting with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the White House, said “fundamental disagreements” remained with the Trump administration on the issue.
“It’s clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told reporters after the meeting. Rasmussen called that outcome “totally unacceptable.”
Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of House members and senators on Friday touted “constructive” conversations with members of Denmark’s parliament during a delegation trip to Copenhagen.
The group — which included Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, Democratic Sen. Chris Coons, Democratic Sen. Peter Welch, Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, Democratic Rep. Sarah Jacobs, Democratic Rep. Steny Hoyer and others — said the visit was to nurture the relationship between Denmark, Greenland and the United States and to reassure NATO partners that many members of Congress do not support any effort by the United States to acquire Greenland.
“I think it’s important that it be recognized that when it comes to matters of relationships with our friends, with our allies, as we have here in Denmark, as we have in Greenland, that it is — it is not a subject of Republicans versus Democrats. It is a recognition, again, of a strong and continuing relationship over decades,” Murkowski said.
Coons, who led the delegation, said the trip was designed for members of Congress to “listen respectfully” to NATO allies and to return to the United States “share those perspectives so that we can lower the temperature”.
“There’s a lot of rhetoric, but there’s not a lot of reality in the current discussion in Washington,” Coons said.
Aaja Chemnitz Larsen, one of Greenland’s representatives in the Danish parliament, said the group also discussed pressure that people in Greenland feel in light of President Trump’s recent rhetoric.
“We have also talked about the human dimension, the pressure that people are feeling back home in Greenland. I think it was well received, and of course, they understand the concerns that we have in Greenland,” Larsen said.
Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
