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More Danish troops have landed in Greenland as US President Donald Trump declined to rule out using force to seize control of the vast Arctic island.
Denmark sent several aircraft carrying troops and military equipment to Greenland late on Monday. The Danish defence forces said a “substantial contribution” of soldiers and the head of the country’s army were flown out to the Greenlandic capital Nuuk and Kangerlussuaq in the west of the autonomous territory, on top of the more than 200 troops already present.
A multinational exercise led by Danish soldiers on the island over the weekend prompted Trump to threaten the eight participating states — including Germany, France and the UK — with additional 10 per cent tariffs from next month.
Trump’s coercive tactics over Greenland risk reigniting a trade war with Europe while plunging the transatlantic relationship into its deepest crisis for several decades.
If the US president follows through with extra tariffs, the EU is likely to hit back with its own levies on €93bn of US goods, said officials briefed on consultations with European states.
Germany and France on Monday called for a “clear” European response to Trump’s tariff threats, even as they urged de-escalation.
“We will not be blackmailed,” said German finance minister Lars Klingbeil.
European Commission officials have drawn up detailed options for further retaliation, according to three EU officials briefed on the preparations.
However, they are holding back the most potent measure, the EU’s so-called anti-coercion instrument, in the hope that a possible diplomatic solution can be found during talks with Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week.
“Our number one priority now is to really engage and co-operate and have a good dialogue with US counterparts,” Henna Virkkunen, Commission vice-president, told the FT. “At the same time, we have also tools at our disposal here. We have prepared also for that.”
Triggering the anti-coercion instrument would allow the EU to limit US technology companies’ access to the EU internal market. Virkkunen pointed out that for some tech groups, the EU was their biggest market.
European leaders still hope they can persuade Trump to back off by promising to play a bigger role in defending the Arctic, with Denmark and Greenland proposing a Nato mission on the island similar to operations to protect critical infrastructure in the Baltic Sea.
After a meeting with Denmark’s defence minister, Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte said the two had discussed the importance of the Arctic, including Greenland, “to our collective security and how Denmark is stepping up investments in key capabilities”.
But when asked in an interview with NBC on Monday if he would use force to acquire Greenland, Trump replied: “No comment.”
Asked if he would follow through on his threats to hit Europe with tariffs in the absence of a deal over Greenland, Trump said: “I will, 100 per cent.”
In Davos, US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent said that EU retaliation against Trump’s tariff threats would be “very unwise”, adding that “everybody should take the president at his word”.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he would use “the full strength of government at home and abroad” to defend international law, as he labelled Trump’s tariff threat against allies as “completely wrong”.
But UK officials insisted that Trump’s team wanted to resolve the crisis over Greenland, with Bessent and US secretary of state Marco Rubio seeking a negotiated solution.
With Trump cranking up the pressure on Europe to hand over Greenland to the US, there were signs of investors selling US assets and seeking other safe havens.
The euro was up 0.4 per cent against the dollar. Gold rose 1.7 per cent to $4,670 per troy ounce, a record high, and silver climbed 5 per cent. European stock markets fell. The Stoxx Europe 600 dropped 1.2 per cent, with carmakers and luxury companies leading the declines.
US futures tracking the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 declined 0.9 per cent and 1.1 per cent, respectively. US markets were closed on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr Day.
Trump has in recent weeks used increasingly bellicose rhetoric towards Greenland, which the US president says is vital for American security and coveted by Russia and China.
He suggested on Monday that his failure to win the Nobel Peace Prize last year might lie behind his renewed pursuit of the Arctic territory, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
Trump told Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre in a text message that “considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize . . . I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America”.
Denmark says it is open to discussing an increased US military presence on Greenland.
Additional reporting by Jacob Judah
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