JUST IN: Trump Threatens Tariffs Against Countries That Don’t Support Greenland Takeover

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump threatened to use tariffs to force support for the annexation of Greenland, which he maintains is critical for the United States’ “national security.”

“I may put a tariff on countries if they don’t go along with Greenland. We need Greenland for national security. So I may do that,” Trump said at the White House on Friday, without providing specific details about the potential plan.

Trump’s tariff statement followed foreign ministers for Greenland and Denmark, an ally of Greenland that runs some of its affairs, meeting with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week in Washington.

Greenland Premier Jens-Frederik Nielsen said earlier this week that his country would “choose” to stay with Denmark over the United States.

“If we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark,” Nielsen said in a press conference with the prime minister of Denmark.

Trump pushed back, warning Nielsen not supporting his efforts to grab Greenland would be a “big problem.”

“Well, that’s their problem,” the president said. “That’s their problem. I disagree with him. I don’t know who he is, don’t know anything about him, but that’s going to be a big problem for him.”

Trump has said Greenland is needed for “defense” and that anything less than the US taking control will be “unacceptable.”

“Militarily, without the vast power of the United States, much of which I built during my first term, and am now bringing to a new and even higher level, NATO would not be an effective force or deterrent – Not even close! They know that, and so do I,” he wrote on Truth Social. “NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES. Anything less than that is unacceptable.”

This story has been updated. 

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