The UK will not compromise on its position that Greenland’s future must be decided by its own people, the culture secretary has said.
Lisa Nandy said Donald Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on the UK and other European allies over their opposition to a US takeover of the Danish territory was “deeply unhelpful and counterproductive”.
She told BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that an “adult debate” with the White House was needed over the issue, which Trump says is a matter of national security.
The eight countries named in Trump’s tariff plan said in a joint statement that the threatened levies “undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral”.
The statement – from Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK – said the nations “stand in full solidarity with the Kingdom of Denmark and the people of Greenland”.
It continued: “We will continue to stand united and co-ordinated in our response. We are committed to upholding our sovereignty.”
The White House has in recent weeks intensified calls for a US takeover of the autonomous Danish territory, which Trump has repeatedly said Denmark did not have the capacity to protect from the likes of Russia and China.
He has not ruled out taking Greenland by force, but his administration has said its first recourse was to purchase the territory.
Trump’s plan would see a 10% tariff introduced on goods from the eight countries from 1 February, which could later rise to 25%, until a deal was struck.
In a rare public rebuke of a US president he has so far had a strong relationship with, Sir Keir Starmer called the move “completely wrong” and said his government would be “pursuing this directly with the US administration”.
Nandy said the prime minister had not spoken to Trump since he announced the plan on Saturday, but that he hoped to do so “at the earliest opportunity”.
She said Trump will often “express a very strong view” before encouraging “dialogue”.
“He welcomes difference of opinion… and what often happens is a negotiation,” she said.
Asked whether she believed Trump would row back on the tariffs, Nandy replied: “I think this is actually a really serious issue, and I think it deserves a far more adult debate than us threatening the United States, and the United States threatening us.”
“The one thing that we won’t do is compromise on our position” she said, reiterating: “The future of Greenland is a matter for the people of Greenland and the people of the kingdom of Denmark.”
Nandy added: “That is non-negotiable. That is the starting point for the conversation.”
The UK has managed to avoid or minimise earlier US tariffs and Sir Keir has acted as a key intermediary between Washington and Europe on ending the war in Ukraine, but his government has firmly sided with Denmark on Greenland’s ownership.
Trump has long espoused his desire to assume control of the Arctic island, but his administration has appeared emboldened by the successful capture of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro at the start of January.
Denmark has repeatedly stressed that Greenland was not for sale and that an attack on its territory would spell the end of the Nato military alliance, while Greenland has said it would rather remain Danish than become American.
US House Speaker Mike Johnson told the BBC before the tariffs were announced that he accepted Greenland was “not our land” but that it had “strategic importance to us”.
“I don’t foresee military intervention,” he said, adding that diplomatic channels were “the way to go”.
Trump’s announcement has prompted criticism across the UK’s political spectrum.
Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel said the US president’s tariff threat was “completely wrong” and “counterproductive”, hurting families and businesses both in the UK and the US.
Conservative MP Sir Jeremy Hunt told Laura Kuenssberg that he did not believe Trump would “actually follow through” on annexing Greenland.
“To invade the sovereign territory of a Nato ally would mean the end of Nato – and that would actually make America weaker.”
Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice said that while “the objective of protecting Greenland for all Nato allies is correct, the way [Trump] is going about it is completely wrong”.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey earlier said Trump was “punishing the UK and Nato allies just for doing the right thing”, while the Green Party’s parliamentary leader Ellie Chowns called the decision “unhinged”.
Greenland’s location between North America and the Arctic makes it well placed for early warning systems and for monitoring vessels in the region.
The US already has more than 100 military personnel stationed at its missile-monitoring station on Greenland and, under existing agreements with Denmark, it has the power to station as many troops as it wants there.
But in recent years, there has been increased interest in Greenland’s natural resources – including rare earth minerals, uranium and iron – that are becoming easier to access as climate change thaws its ice sheet.
Several European nations have rallied to support Denmark.
The UK sent a military officer to Greenland earlier this week as part of a so-called reconnaissance mission. Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, France, and the Netherlands also formed part of the group making the trip.
Trump said on Saturday that they were “playing a very dangerous game” and had put the “Safety, Security, and Survival of our Planet” at risk.
The eight nations said in their joint statement on Sunday: “As members of Nato, we are committed to strengthening Arctic security as a shared transatlantic interest.”
The planned, Danish-led exercise “responds to this necessity” and “poses no threat”, it added.
Tariffs are taxes on foreign products paid to the government imposing them by the companies importing them, not the exporting countries themselves.
However, the levies can harm those economies as those companies may decide to import fewer products due to the extra cost.
