Heading into the conference, Trump threatened to impose 10 percent tariffs on “any and all goods” from eight European countries, including Denmark, unless a deal was reached to sell Greenland to the US, and he pointedly refused to rule out using military force to take the island — effectively threatening to invade a NATO ally. Then, later in the day, after a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Trump posted on Truth Social that he would not be imposing the tariffs after all, saying, vaguely, that the “framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland” had been reached and that there would be ongoing talks about the territory and its role in the proposed Golden Dome missile defense system. And it’s not just over Greenland: He pointed to Macron’s refusal to join the president’s “Board of Peace,” a proposed body to oversee Gaza’s reconstruction (though Trump seems to envision a much broader mandate for it) that would require permanent members to pony up $1 billion for the president to control, and Trump’s threat to slap 200 percent tariffs on French wines because of it, as evidence that Europeans are more willing to show some backbone.
Author: Joshua Keating
Published at: 2026-01-21 23:20:17
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