Trump says he may put tariffs on countries that don’t back US control of Greenland

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — US President Donald Trump suggests that he may punish countries with tariffs if they don’t back the US controlling Greenland, a message that came as a bipartisan Congressional delegation sought to lower tensions in the Danish capital.

Trump for months has insisted that the US should control Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, and said earlier this week that anything less than the Arctic island being in US hands would be “unacceptable.”

During an unrelated event at the White House about rural health care, he recounts how he had threatened European allies with tariffs on pharmaceuticals.

“I may do that for Greenland too,” Trump says. “I may put a tariff on countries if they don’t go along with Greenland, because we need Greenland for national security. So I may do that,” he says.