NUUK, Greenland – US President-elect Donald Trump did not withdraw his previous threat of targeted tariffs on Danish goods in a phone call with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, as his desire for control of Greenland shows no sign of abating.
The 45-minute conversation between Trump and Frederiksen on Wednesday was focused on Greenland, Frederiksen’s office said in post on social media.
On Thursday, Frederiksen told Danish media TV2 that Trump’s threats of targeted tariffs on Danish goods were still present after the conversation. Frederiksen said she spoke with Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte B. Egede both before and immediately after the phone call.
Senior figures from the Danish business sector were invited for a briefing at the prime minister’s offices in Copenhagen later on Thursday.
Trump first mentioned his economic threats against Denmark in a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate last week, saying he would “tariff Denmark at a very high level” if the country did not cede or sell Greenland.
“We are in a serious situation,” Frederiksen told reporters in Copenhagen on Thursday.
A spokesperson for the European Commission told Euractiv that “The EU has instruments and processes in place to deal with unfair economic coercion against a single member state”.
After Donald Trump’s first term in the White House, the European Commission proposed the Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI) for such purposes. The Commission can impose counter-tariffs unilaterally without the approval of member states.
The conversation between the president-elect and the Danish leader took place after an eventful few weeks that have strained relations between Washington, Nuuk and Copenhagen.
Trump has repeatedly expresssed a desire to achieve “control and ownership” of Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark – an EU and NATO member – and has refused to rule out using military or economic muscle to do so.
His son then paid Greenland’s capital a surprise visit, fuelling further speculation.
However, officials from Denmark and Greenland have repeatedly stated that the autonomous region is not for sale. Trump first mentioned buying Greenland in 2019.
Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on goods from a specific EU country at least once previously – with planned duties on French luxury goods eventually shelved shortly before the end of his first term.
[Edited by Owen Morgan]
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