Starmer Challenges Trump: Why Greenland Tariffs on European Allies are a Mistake

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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has spoken to US President Donald Trump after talking to the leaders of Denmark, the EU and NATO, to say he believed “applying tariffs on allies for pursuing the collective security of NATO allies is wrong”.

A Downing Street spokesperson said Starmer held phone calls with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte before speaking to Trump.

The Prime Minister consistently emphasized the importance of Greenland in his discussions, underscoring that ensuring security in the High North is crucial for all NATO members to safeguard Euro-Atlantic interests, according to his spokesperson.

In a unified statement, they expressed concern that imposing tariffs threatens to strain transatlantic ties and could lead to a perilous downward spiral.

Earlier, major European Union states, including Germany and France, decried Trump’s tariff threats over Greenland as blackmail, as France proposed responding with a range of untested economic countermeasures.

All eight countries, already subject to US tariffs of 10 per cent and 15 per cent, have sent small numbers of military personnel to Denmark’s vast Arctic island, as a row with the United States over its future escalates.

Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel criticized President Trump’s tariff threats during an interview on Dutch television, describing them as a form of blackmail.

The Danish exercise in Greenland was designed to strengthen Arctic security and posed no threat to anyone, they said, adding that they were ready to engage in dialogue, based on principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement she was pleased with the consistent messages from other states, adding: “Europe will not be blackmailed”, a view echoed by Germany’s finance minister and Sweden’s prime minister.

He further noted that the United States encompasses more than just its President, pointing out the presence of checks and balances within American society based on his recent visit.

Coordinated European Response

Cyprus, holder of the rotating six-month EU presidency, summoned ambassadors to an emergency meeting in Brussels late on Sunday as EU leaders stepped up contacts.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, visiting his Norwegian counterpart in Oslo, said Denmark would continue to focus on diplomacy, referring to an agreement Denmark, Greenland and the US made on Wednesday to set up a working group.

“Even though we are now being confronted with these threats, we will naturally try to stay on that path,” Rasmussen said.

“The US is also more than the US president. I’ve just been there. There are also checks and balances in American society,” he added.

Meanwhile, a source close to Emmanuel Macron said the French President was pushing to activate the Anti-Coercion Instrument, which could limit access to public tenders, investments or banking activity or restrict trade in services, in which the US has a surplus with the bloc, including digital services.

Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said that while there should be no doubt the EU would retaliate, it was “a bit premature” to activate the instrument.

And Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is closer to the US President than some other EU leaders, described the tariff threat on Sunday as “a mistake”, adding she had spoken to Trump a few hours earlier and told him what she thought.

“He seemed interested in listening,” she told a briefing with reporters during a trip to Korea.