Trump says he may hit countries with tariffs if they do not back US on Greenland

President Donald Trump has suggested he may punish countries with tariffs if they do not back the US controlling Greenland.

His message came as a US congressional delegation met Danish and Greenlandic politicians in Copenhagen and sought to lower tensions.

Mr 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 on Friday about rural healthcare, he recounted how he had threatened European allies with tariffs on pharmaceuticals.

“I may do that for Greenland too,” Mr 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 had not 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 did not resolve the deep differences, but 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 it is only for Denmark and Greenland to decide on matters concerning the territory, and Denmark said this week that it was increasing its military presence in Greenland in co-operation with allies.

In Copenhagen, a group of senators and members of the House of Representatives met on Friday with Danish and Greenlandic politicians, and with leaders including Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.

Delegation leader senator 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 dialogue about how we extend that into the future”.

Senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, said after meeting politicians that the visit reflected a strong relationship over decades and “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”.

The tone contrasted with that emanating from the White House. Mr Trump has sought to justify his calls for a US takeover by repeatedly claiming that China and Russia have their own designs on Greenland, which holds vast untapped reserves of critical minerals. The White House has not ruled out taking the territory by force.

“We have heard so many lies, to be honest and so much exaggeration on the threats towards Greenland,” said Aaja Chemnitz, a Greenlandic politician and member of the Danish parliament who took part in Friday’s meetings. “And mostly, I would say the threats that we’re seeing right now is from the US side.”

The dispute is looming large in the lives of Greenlanders.

Greenland’s Prime Minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said on Tuesday that “if we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark. We choose Nato. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU”.