AMSTERDAM, Jan 18 (Reuters) – The Netherlands’ foreign minister on Sunday said that U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to impose new tariffs on European allies until they agree to sell Greenland to the United States is “blackmail”.
“It’s blackmail what he’s doing … and it’s not necessary. It doesn’t help the alliance (NATO) and it also doesn’t help Greenland,” David van Weel said in an interview on Dutch television.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, Trump said additional 10% import tariffs would take effect on February 1 on goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and Great Britain — countries that have agreed to contribute personnel to a NATO exercise on Greenland.
Van Weel said the Greenland mission was intended to show the U.S. Europe’s willingness to help defend Greenland and he was opposed to Trump making a connection with diplomacy over the island and trade.
Trump has insisted he will settle for nothing less than full ownership of Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, which he has said is vital to U.S. security because of its strategic location and mineral deposits. Leaders of both Denmark and Greenland have said the island is not for sale and does not want to be part of the United States.
Ambassadors from the European Union’s 27 countries will convene on Sunday for an emergency meeting to discuss their response to Trump’s tariff threat.
(Reporting by Toby Sterling;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
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