{"id":253438,"date":"2026-01-20T01:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T01:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/253438\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T01:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T01:26:09","slug":"trump-says-no-comment-when-asked-if-he-would-take-greenland-by-force-ties-threats-to-nobel-snub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/253438\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump says \u2018no comment\u2019 when asked if he would take Greenland by force, ties threats to Nobel snub"},"content":{"rendered":"

US President Donald Trump answered “no comment” when asked if he would use force to seize Greenland, \u00a0as transatlantic tensions over the Arctic island escalated further and threatened to rekindle a trade war with the EU.<\/p>\n

In a brief telephone interview with NBC News earlier on Monday, Mr Trump declined to rule out seizing the territory, an autonomous part of the Kingdom of Denmark, by force.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump also expressed his frustration with European leaders focusing on Greenland, saying that Europe “ought to focus on the war with Russia and Ukraine, because, frankly, you see what that\u2019s gotten, them. That\u2019s what Europe should focus on \u2014 not Greenland”.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump has also linked his repeated threats to seize control of Greenland to his failure to win the Nobel peace prize in an extraordinary text message<\/a> sent on Sunday to the Norwegian prime minister, Jonas Gahr St\u00f8re, the US president wrote that after being snubbed for the prize, he no longer felt the need to think \u201cpurely of peace\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsidering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace,\u201d he wrote, adding that the US needed \u201ccomplete and total control\u201d of Greenland.<\/p>\n

\"FXNM41FXNM41 Nuuk, Greenland<\/p>\n

In his text message to St\u00f8re, Trump said Denmark \u201ccannot protect\u201d Greenland from Russia or China.<\/p>\n

The US president said he had \u201cdone more for Nato than anyone else since its founding, and now Nato should do something for the United States\u201d. The world was \u201cnot secure unless we have Complete and Total control of Greenland\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

Trump has ramped up his push to grab the island, a largely self-governing part of Denmark, in recent weeks, saying that the US would take control of the Arctic island \u201cone way or the other\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Saturday he threatened to impose from 1 February a punitive 10% tariff, increasing later to 25%, on imports from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Finland unless they dropped their objections to his plan.<\/p>\n

The dispute has plunged trade relations between the EU and the US into fresh chaos, forcing the bloc to consider retaliatory measures, and also risks unravelling the Nato transatlantic alliance that has guaranteed western security for decades.<\/p>\n

\"USUS President Donald Trump. File Picture: AP Photo\/Alex Brandon<\/p>\n

Trump has rocked the EU and Nato by refusing to rule out military force to seize the strategically important, mineral-rich island, which is covered by many of the protections offered by the two organisations since Denmark is a member of both.<\/p>\n

He has repeatedly said the US needs to take control of the territory for \u201cnational security\u201d, despite the US already having a military base on the island and a bilateral agreement with Denmark allowing it to massively expand its presence there.<\/p>\n

EU leaders will meet for an emergency summit in Brussels on Thursday to discuss their response, which could include a package of tariffs on \u20ac93bn of US imports that has been suspended for six months since the two sides reached a trade deal last year.<\/p>\n

Another possibility is the bloc\u2019s anti-coercion instrument\u201d (ACI), which has never been used but would limit US access to public tenders, investments or banking activities and restrict trade in services, including digital services. The EU said it was continuing to engage \u201cat all levels\u201d and the use of the ACI was not off the table.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Harris: ‘Destabilising effects of recent geopolitical developments could potentially be enormous’<\/p>\n

\"SimonSimon Harris said the EU would be preparing for \u201call eventualities\u201d as the rift with the US over Greenland deepens. Picture: Frank Vincini<\/p>\n

Speaking on Monday afternoon, T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris warned that the threats against Greenland and sweeping new tariffs could have an \u201cenormous\u201d destabilising effect.<\/p>\n

Mr Harris has called for \u201ccool heads\u201d and that the EU is not seeking a confrontation with the United States, amid Mr Trump\u2019s proposals to introduce a 10% tariff on goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Finland from 1 February.<\/p>\n

These tariffs would then increase to 25% on 1 June, unless a deal is reached to allow the US purchase Greenland, Mr Trump said.<\/p>\n

Mr Harris said the EU had worked hard to reach a trade deal with the US last year and moving away from that would potentially have \u201cvery, very significant consequences\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe destabilising effects of the recent geopolitical developments could potentially be enormous, that\u2019s why it\u2019s more important than ever now that we seek dialogue,\u201d Mr Harris said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important that Europe stands united.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n Europe will always stand with Greenland, will always stand with the Kingdom of Denmark. We will always stand together for our values and we want to have dialogue in a cool and calm way and use the window that is available.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cBut we will, of course, prepare to respond accordingly should that be required.\u201d The Finance Minister said much more can be achieved when the EU and US work together.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s President Trump who, in recent days, has decided to threaten Europe with additional tariffs, ones that have a very significant destabilising effect. The destabilising effect could potentially be enormous, the cascading effect could be very, very significant,\u201d Mr Harris said.<\/p>\n

Mr Harris added the EU would be preparing for \u201call eventualities\u201d.<\/p>\n

The T\u00e1naiste was speaking as he arrived for a meeting of EU Finance Minister’s in Brussels, where normal discussions have been overshadowed by threats from the US President.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin, Mr Harris and ministers Thomas Byrne and Sean Canney met with senior officials at the Department of Finance to be briefed on the possible impact of US tariffs on the EU.<\/p>\n

Discussions also focused on the current situation surrounding Greenland, ahead of an emergency meeting of the EU council this Thursday.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s understood ministers discussed the need for continued solidarity across the EU, alongside respect for the rights of people living in Greenland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US President Donald Trump answered “no comment” when asked if he would use force to seize Greenland, \u00a0as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[969,42,43,58037,15487,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-253438","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-person-micheal-martin","12":"tag-person-simon-harris","13":"tag-top-news","14":"tag-top-stories","15":"tag-topnews","16":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}