Trump Greenland tariffs: A day after US President Donald Trump unveiled 10-25 per cent tariff on eight European countries for not supporting his plans to takeover Greenland, a key aide has put forward “national security” considerations to defend the move.
Stephen Miller, the White House’s Deputy Chief of Staff and Homeland Security Advisor, has defended Trump’s proposal to annex Greenland, arguing that Denmark cannot defend and control the Arctic territory owing to its “tiny” military and economy. Since the Trump administration came back into power last year, it has repeatedly pushed for the occupation of the territory, claiming that it is essential for US national security.
In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Miller said: “The new domain of international competition is going to be polar competition; that is where more and more resources are being spent by our adversaries and rivals for the ability to control movement, navigation, and lanes of travel in the polar region.”
People protest against Trump’s policy towards Greenland in front of the US consulate in Nuuk. (AP/PTI)
“Greenland is 25 per cent larger than Alaska…and one-fourth that of continental United States. Denmark is a tiny country with a tiny economy and tiny military. They cannot defend Greenland, they cannot control the territory of Greenland,” he added.
‘Unfair to the American taxpayers’
In the interview, Miller argued that “to control a territory, you have to be able to defend a territory, improve a territory, inhabit a territory; Denmark has failed at every single one of these tests.”
“They want us hundreds of billions of dollars, defending a territory that is 25 per cent bigger than Alaska at a 100 per cent American expense, and they say ‘while we do this, it belongs 100 per cent to Denmark,’” he added.
Miller said “it’s unfair to the American taxpayers who have subsidised all of Europe’s defence for generations,” adding that Trump is “insisting that we be respected.”
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NATO and Greenland
Miller took aim at US’ NATO allies, saying, “You would think that our allies in NATO, again, we keep safe with our missile shield, our nuclear shield, with our special forces, our troops, our soldiers, our intelligence, or submarines. American tax dollars are keeping Europe safe and free from every adversary in the world. You would think that they would want to support America in this matter. And I hope that they do.”
US President Trump has not ruled out taking Greenland by force. In the past, Trump said the US would get the territory “the easy way” or “the hard way”, which many took as a reference to buying the island or using military pressure.
Since coming back to office last year, the US President has made several statements and built pressure on Europe to this end. Last year, he also pushed for US’ transatlantic defence partners to spend more on their security within the NATO framework.
These moves have undermined the premise of military allianc, causing a rift between Washington and its European allies while putting the future of the bloc at stake.
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Fresh tariffs on Europe
On Saturday Trump said that he would impose a 10 per cent import tariff on eight European countries, from February 1 for opposing the US’ plans to control Greenland.
In a post on Truth Social, the US president said that Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland would face the tariff, which would be raised to 25% on June 1 if a deal is not in place for “the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland” by the United States.
This came after the aforementioned countries sent their troops to Greenland in response to Trump’s fresh comments on takeover plans.
Protests in Greenland
Thousands of people in Greenland and Denmark marched the streets to protest against the US President’s comments. In Nuuk, Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen also joined demonstrators marching towards the US consulate. The protests were organised by Greenlandic and Danish non-government groups.
