Trump Warns World: OK My Greenland Push or Face Tariffs

President Trump suggested on Friday that he may punish countries with tariffs if they don't back the United States controlling Greenland, a message that came as a bipartisan Congressional delegation sought to lower tensions in the Danish capital. Trump for months has insisted that the US should control Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, and said earlier this week that anything less than the Arctic island being in US hands would be "unacceptable." During an unrelated event at the White House about rural health care, he recounted on Friday how he'd threatened European allies with tariffs on pharmaceuticals.

"I may do that for Greenland, too," Trump said. "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." He hadn't previously mentioned using tariffs to try to force the issue. Earlier this week, the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met in Washington with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. That encounter didn't resolve the deep differences, but it did produce an agreement to set up a working group—on whose purpose Denmark and the White House then offered sharply diverging public views.

European leaders have insisted that only Denmark and Greenland should decide on matters concerning the territory, and Denmark said this week that it was increasing its military presence in Greenland in cooperation with allies. In Copenhagen, a group of senators and members of the House of Representatives met Friday with Danish and Greenlandic lawmakers, and with leaders including Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. Delegation leader Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, thanked the group's hosts for "225 years of being a good and trusted ally and partner" and said that "we had a strong and robust dialog about how we extend that into the future."

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, said after meeting lawmakers that the visit reflected a strong relationship over decades, and that "it is one that we need to nurture." She told reporters that "Greenland needs to be viewed as our ally, not as an asset, and I think that's what you're hearing with this delegation."