Donald Trump repeatedly said the US “absolutely” needs to acquire Greenland, which is a semi-autonomous region of Denmark
“Keir Starmer was so keen to keep Donald Trump appeased and pleased that he was willing to do anything.”.
Picture:
Getty
By Alice Padgett and Alex Taylor Brown
Zack Polanski has told LBC the Prime Minister should stop “appeasing” Donald Trump after the President announced a wave of tariffs on European countries that would remain in place until he had acquired Greenland.
The Green Party leader said Sir Keir Starmer needs to be “asking questions” about the US military bases operating from UK soil.
His comments come after Mr Trump repeatedly said the US “absolutely” needs to acquire Greenland, which is a semi-autonomous region of Denmark.
Mr Polanski said: “Keir Starmer was so keen to keep Donald Trump appeased and pleased that he was willing to do anything.
“And anyone who’s ever dealt with a bully knows the worst thing you can do is give them what they want, because they’ll just keep asking for more and more and more and more. And it’s absolutely time to say no to Donald Trump.”
Read more: How European leaders have responded to Trump’s tariff threat over Greenland
President Donald Trump with Prime Minister Keir Starmer in September 2025.
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Alamy
Mr Polanski urged that a solution must be met that also “protects our national security”, as nuclear programmes like Trident and aid to Ukraine are largely funded by the US.
“I want to see us build this alternative defence alliance and eventually for countries to move to an alliance that doesn’t involve the United States,” he said.
“I also want to look at rebuilding relationships with places like Brazil and Mexico and other countries that have been kept out of these sort of alliances.”
This comes as Sir Keir said the government would be “pursuing” the US after Mr Trump announced a wave of tariffs on European countries.
Posting on his Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said 10 per cent tariffs would come into effect on February 1 – affecting Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Finland.
Those tariffs will then increase to 25 per cent on June 1 until a deal to purchase Greenland is reached.
He announced the tax hikes during a long social media rant, in which he also slammed the European countries for sending military personnel to Greenland in a show of support for the territory.
“These countries, who are playing this very dangerous game, have put a level of risk in play that is not tenable or sustainable,” Trump wrote.
Trump’s Truth Social post.
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Truth Social.
“Therefore, it is imperative that, in order to protect Global Peace and Security, strong measures be taken so that this potentially perilous situations end quickly, and without question.”
Responding to the tariff threat, Sir Keir said: “Our position on Greenland is very clear – it is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and its future is a matter for the Greenlanders and the Danes.
“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.
“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.”
Rasmus Jarlov, a member of the Danish parliament, who chairs its Defence, Resilience and Preparedness Committee, told LBC that “Greenlanders don’t want to become part of the United States”.
He said: “Every type of pressure is applied to Denmark. First military threats, now tariffs. So it’s gotten real now. “It’s not just words, it’s actually also punitive action from the Americans to try to put as much pressure on us so we will give up Greenland.
“We’re not going to, regardless of what pressure. He could quadruple the tariffs and we still wouldn’t do it.
“He could threaten us more with military generation and we still wouldn’t give up Greenland.
“We’re not going to do that. It would be immoral just to hand over 57,000 Danish citizens that don’t want to be part of the United States.”