Allies stand against Trump's tariff threats over Greenland

"Leave Greenland alone!"

A heckler shouted at Vanessa Williams while she sang the US national anthem before an NBA game in London, England, between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Orlando Magic on Sunday, The Associated Press reported.

The heckler drew scattered laughter and applause, though Williams was unfazed and completed the song.

US President Donald Trump has insisted that the semiautonomous Danish territory should be controlled by the United States for "national security" reasons, and that anything less would be "unacceptable". Trump said he plans to impose tariffs on eight European countries that oppose his desire to control the Arctic island.

In a Truth Social post on Saturday, Trump said the countries will have a 10 percent tariff on all goods imported to the US, effective Feb 1. He threatened to raise the tariffs to 25 percent if an agreement was not made by June 1.

On Monday, Trump told the Norwegian prime minister in a message that the world would not be secure unless the US controlled Greenland. "Considering your country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 wars plus, 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," Trump wrote in the letter to Jonas Gahr Store.

Asked what national emergency was being invoked, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told NBC News that the tariffs were justified because "the national emergency is avoiding the national emergency".

Bessent argued that European "weakness" necessitated US control of Greenland for global stability.

EU leaders will meet on Thursday evening for an emergency summit on threats by Trump, a spokeswoman said on Monday.

The crisis talks in Brussels come as the bloc weighs potential countermeasures if Trump follows through on punishing some of Washington's closest allies.

The German and French finance ministers said on Monday that the European powers would not be blackmailed and there would be a clear and united response to threats of tariffs.

"Germany and France agree: we will not allow ourselves to be blackmailed," German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said at his ministry where he received his French counterpart.

"Blackmail between allies of 250 years, blackmail between friends, is obviously unacceptable," French Finance Minister Roland Lescure said at the same event.

Earlier, eight of the US' closest European allies on Sunday stood against the tariffs.

Full solidarity

In a statement, the eight NATO nations — including Denmark, of which Greenland is an autonomous territory — called the tariffs "dangerous" to trans-Atlantic relations and declared "full solidarity" with Denmark and Greenland.

Greenland's premier said on Monday it would not be pressured by the threats.

In a post on Facebook, Jens-Frederik Nielsen welcomed the support of other nations, "as a clear recognition that Greenland is a democratic society with the right to make its own decisions".

"The latest statements from the United States, including threats of tariffs, do not change that stance. We will not be pressured," Nielsen continued.

Danish ‍ ‍officials will skip ‍ ‍this week's World Economic Forum in Davos, Bloomberg News reported on Monday. "We can confirm that the Danish government will ‍ ‍not be represented in Davos this week," the WEF told Bloomberg.

According to the Financial Times, the European Union is considering hitting Washington with 93 billion euros ($107.68 billion) worth of tariffs or restricting US companies from the bloc's market, in response to Trump's tariff threats.

Meanwhile, EU leaders are set to discuss the yet-to-be-used Anti-Coercion Instrument, which could limit access to public tenders, investments or banking activity. It may also restrict trade in services, in which the US has a surplus with the bloc, including digital services.

The tariff threats also call into question trade deals the US struck with Britain in May and the EU in July.

The European Parliament looks set to suspend its work on the EU-US trade deal. It had been due to vote on removing many EU import duties on Jan 26-27, but Manfred Weber, head of the European People's Party, the largest group in parliament, said late on Saturday that approval was not possible for now.

European troops continued to arrive in Greenland this week in a show of support for Denmark, as talks with the US highlighted "fundamental disagreement".

For many Greenlanders, discussions about transferring their territory to US control are seen as a "complete insult", the Greenland Gazette reported.

Agencies contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at shiguang@chinadailyusa.com.