15m ago
09.23 CET
EU calls
emergency meeting after Trump vows tariffs linked to Greenland
Good
morning and welcome to the Europe live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I will
be bringing you all the latest news lines and reaction throughout the day.
We start
with the news that ambassadors from the European Union’s 27 countries will
convene on Sunday for an emergency meeting after US president Donald Trump
vowed a wave of increasing tariffs on European allies until the United States
is allowed to buy Greenland.
Cyprus,
which holds the six-month rotating EU presidency, said late on Saturday that it
had called the meeting for Sunday. EU diplomats said it was set to start at 5pm
(4pm GMT).
In a
lengthy post on Saturday on Truth Social, Trump said he would impose a 10%
tariff on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the
Netherlands and Finland beginning 1 February, “on any and all goods sent to the
United States of America”.
He said
the tariff will increase to 25% on 1 June.
“This
Tariff will be due and payable until such time as a Deal is reached for the
Complete and Total purchase of Greenland,” Trump said.
The
president’s longstanding interest in acquiring Greenland “one way or the other”
has become a fixation since the US raid that captured Venezuelan president
Nicolás Maduro earlier in January. While he has claimed the Arctic territory’s
current status poses a national security threat to the US, this has been
disputed by US allies, including Denmark.
In the
Saturday morning post, Trump said forces from the eight European nations “have
journeyed to Greenland, for purposes unknown”. It was an apparent reference to
Nato allies deploying troops in Greenland on Thursday in response to Trump’s
threats to forcefully take the Arctic island, which is an autonomous territory
of Denmark.
“The
President’s statement comes as a surprise,” Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Denmark’s
foreign minister, responded on social media. “Earlier this week, we had a
constructive meeting with Vice President Vance and Secretary Rubio. The purpose
of the increased military presence in Greenland, to which the President refers,
is to enhance security in the Arctic.”
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