Trump's Greenland Tariff Threat 'Absolutely Wrong' : Starmer

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said Donald Trump's plan to impose tariffs on the UK and European allies until a deal is struck for the US to take over Greenland was "completely wrong".

The US president on Saturday vowed to place a 10% levy "on any and all goods" exported to the US from 1 February, which would rise to 25% on 1 June.

Sir Keir, who so far has maintained a strong relationship with Trump, said the UK would be pursuing the matter directly with the White House.

The Trump administration has been ramping up calls for the US to take control of Greenland, a Danish territory in the Arctic, on national security grounds, alarming both European allies and those living on the island.

As well as the UK, Trump said the new tariffs would apply to products from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland.

The UK was the first nation to strike a deal to reverse or cut some earlier tariffs imposed by the US, while Sir Keir has acted as a key intermediary between Washington and Europe on ending the war in Ukraine.

But the UK recently joined other European nations in defending Denmark's ownership of Greenland as the Trump administration's rhetoric on the issue escalated, and was among several countries to deploy troops to Greenland's capital Nuuk earlier this week as part of a so-called reconnaissance mission.

Faced with striking a careful balance between allies increasingly at odds, Sir Keir reiterated his position that Greenland was part of Denmark and its future was a matter for the two alone to decide.

"We have also made clear that Arctic security matters for the whole of Nato and allies should all do more together to address the threat from Russia across different parts of the Arctic," he said on Saturday.

"Applying tariffs on allies for pursuing the collective security of Nato allies is completely wrong. We will of course be pursuing this directly with the US administration."

By saying that Nato needs to do more to ensure Arctic security, Sir Keir is sending a message to Trump that the UK is willing to play a part - in a similar way to how European countries took on more financial responsibility for Ukraine.

But his comments represent a rare public rebuke of the US president and mark an important test for the US-UK "special relationship".