As he intensifies his campaign to acquire the semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, President Donald Trump has stated that a number of European allies will be affected by an increasing number of tariffs for opposing US control of the island nation.
Trump stated in a post on Truth Social on Saturday that Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom would be subject to 10% tariffs starting on February 1.
He added that until an agreement is reached, the US would start levying tariffs at 25% on June 1 and continue to do so until June 1.
The European nations did not immediately react.
Trump’s announcement came as thousands of Danish citizens gathered in Danish cities to protest the Republican’s repeated threats to annex Greenland.
Protesters chanted slogans like “Kalaallit Nunaat,” the name of the Arctic island, in Greenlandic, while waving the flags of Denmark and Copenhagen in the capital.
A bipartisan US congressional delegation in Copenhagen intervened to reassure Denmark and Greenland of their support shortly after the protests.
Senator Chris Coons expressed hope that Danish citizens continue to trust the American people, adding that the US values both NATO and Denmark for what they have done together.
Trump has argued for months that the US should control Greenland since regaining control of the White House in January. He declared earlier this week that anything less than US control of the Arctic island would be “unacceptable.”
Only 6 percent of Greenlanders were in favor of the territory joining the US, according to the most recent poll conducted in January of last year.
Although efforts to change the US administration’s position have largely failed, Greenland and Denmark have since rejected the notion that the island is “owned” by the US.
The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week in Washington, DC, and said they “didn’t manage to change the American position.”
Source: Aljazeera
Leave a Reply