Russian officials are openly lauding President Donald Trump's threat to hit key NATO allies with new tariffs tied to Greenland, arguing it exposes fractures inside the Western alliance as Europe scrambles for a coordinated response ahead of a Feb. 1 start date for the first penalties.
Kremlin-linked figures seized on Trump's tariff warning to portray NATO as weakening under pressure, with Kremlin economic negotiator Kirill Dmitriev declaring on X the "Collapse of the transatlantic union. Transatlantic unity is over. Leftist, globalist EU/UK elites failed."
Trump has said the U.S. will impose an additional 10% tariff on imports from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, and Great Britain, with the rate rising to 25% on June 1, unless a deal is reached for the U.S. to purchase Greenland.
Trump has said he plans to acquire Greenland for the U.S. "one way or the other."
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a longtime critic of the West, also welcomed Trump's rhetoric, saying, "The U.S. is preparing to attack Greenland, choosing the island itself rather than some kind of Atlantic solidarity," adding that European countries would be "punished with tariffs" for relying on U.S. protection, according to the Kyiv Independent.
Trump has suggested that he might have to choose between Greenland and NATO. He has also argued NATO would become "far more formidable and effective" if Greenland were under U.S. control, a claim European leaders have rejected.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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