BERLIN (AP) — Europeans were reeling Sunday from U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement that eight countries will face 10% tariff for opposing American control of Greenland.
Europeans were reeling Sunday from U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement that eight countries will face 10% tariff for opposing American control of Greenland.
The responses to Trump’s decision on Saturday ranged from saying it risked “a dangerous downward spiral” to predicting that “China and Russia must be having a field day.”
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Trump’s threat sets up a potentially dangerous test of U.S. partnerships in Europe. Several European countries have sent troops to Greenland in recent days, saying they are there for Arctic security training. Trump’s announcement came Saturday as thousands of Greenlanders were wrapping up a protest outside the U.S. Consulate in the capital, Nuuk.
The Republican president appeared to indicate that he was using the tariffs as leverage to force talks with Denmark and other European countries over the status of Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark that he regards as critical to U.S. national security. Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland would face the tariff.
There are immediate questions about how the White House could try to implement the tariffs because the EU is a single economic zone in terms of trading, according to a European diplomat who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
