The Latest: Top EU official questions Trump’s trustworthiness over Greenland tariff threat
Jan 20, 2026, 5:27 AM | Updated: 12:24 pm
The European Union’s top official says President Donald Trump’s threats of new tariffs over Greenland are “a mistake especially between long-standing allies,” and she’s calling into question Trump’s trustworthiness after he agreed last year not to impose more tariffs on EU countries.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was responding Tuesday to Trump’s announcement of a 10% import tax will be imposed in February on goods from eight European nations rallying around Denmark as he insists on a U.S. takeover of the semi-autonomous Danish territory of Greenland.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged America’s trading partners to “take a deep breath.” One year into his second term, Trump is attending the World Economic Forum in Davos — an annual gathering of the global elite — where amid the Europeans’ resistance he may see many of the billionaires he has surrounded himself with. Follow live updates from Davos.
The Latest:
A startled British government on Tuesday defended its decision to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, after Trump attacked the plan, which his administration had previously supported.
Trump said that relinquishing the remote Indian Ocean archipelago, home to a strategically important American naval and bomber base, was an act of stupidity that shows why he needs to take over Greenland.
The blast from Trump was a rebuff to efforts by Prime Minister Keir Starmer to calm tensions over Greenland and patch up a frayed trans-Atlantic relationship. Starmer on Monday called Trump’s statements about taking over Greenland “completely wrong,” but called for the rift to be “resolved through calm discussion.”
▶ Read more about Trump’s comments on the Chagos Islands
While Europe is pushing back publicly against Trump over Greenland, the language appears softer behind the scenes.
Trump published a text message on Tuesday that he received from French President Emmanuel Macron, confirmed as genuine by Macron’s office.
Starting with “My friend,” Macron’s tone was more deferential than the criticism that France and some of its European partner nations are openly voicing against Trump’s push to wrest Greenland from NATO ally Denmark.
Before broaching the Greenland dispute, Macron opted in his message to first talk about other issues where he and Trump seem to be roughly on the same page.
“We are totally in line on Syria. We can do great things on Iran,” the French leader wrote in English.
Then, he added: “I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland,” immediately followed by: “Let us try to build great things.”
That was the only mention that Macron made of the semi-autonomous Danish territory that Trump covets in the two sections of message that Trump published. It wasn’t immediately clear from Trump’s post when he received the message.
▶ Read more about the messages
Trump plans to use a key address Wednesday to try to convince Americans he can make housing more affordable, but he’s picked a strange backdrop for the speech: a Swiss mountain town where ski chalets for vacations cost a cool $4.4 million.
On the anniversary of his inauguration, Trump is flying to the World Economic Forum in Davos — an annual gathering of the global elite — where he may see many of the billionaires he has surrounded himself with during his first year back in the White House.
Trump had campaigned on lowering the cost of living. But in office, he has devoted more time to cavorting with the wealthy than talking directly to his working-class base.
Trump’s attention in his first year back has been less on pocketbook issues and more fixed on foreign policy with conflicts. He is now bent on acquiring Greenland to the chagrin of European allies — a headline likely to dominate his time in Davos, overshadowing his housing ideas.
▶ Read more about Trump at Davos
The European Union’s top official on Tuesday described Trump’s planned new tariffs over Greenland as “a mistake especially between long-standing allies” and called into question Trump’s trustworthiness, saying that he had agreed last year not to impose more tariffs on members of the bloc.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was responding to Trump’s announcement that starting February, a 10% import tax will be imposed on goods from eight European nations that have rallied around Denmark in the wake of his escalating calls for the United States to take over the semi-autonomous Danish territory of Greenland.
“The European Union and the United States have agreed to a trade deal last July,” Von der Leyen said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “And in politics as in business – a deal is a deal. And when friends shake hands, it must mean something.”
She vowed that the EU’s response “will be unflinching, united and proportional.”
Trump has insisted the U.S. needs the territory for security reasons against possible threats from China and Russia.
▶ Read more about von der Leyen’s comments
