Keir Starmer says US tariffs over Greenland tensions “completely wrong”

Keir Starmer has criticised the imposition of tariffs by the United States on nations opposing Donald Trump’s desired takeover of the Danish territory of Greenland.

Trump announced a ten percent tariff would be levied from February 1 on a selection of European nations, including Denmark, Germany, France and the UK, claiming American control of Greenland is needed for US national security.

In a press conference earlier this morning, Prime Minister Keir Starmer stressed that “any decision about the future status of Greenland belongs to the people of Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark alone”.

While saying that Britain’s ‘special relationship’ with the United States delivers “concrete outcomes”, including investment, he also said that that doesn’t come without disagreement on occasion and that the UK would defend “the values that guide us”.

READ MORE: ‘Britain isn’t talking honestly about how geopolitics is driving the cost-of-living crisis’

He hit out at the threat to impose tariffs on NATO allies as “completely wrong” and said: “It is not the right way to resolve differences within an alliance, nor is it helpful to frame efforts to strengthen Greenland security as a justification for economic pressure. Such measures hurt British workers, British businesses and the British economy.

“A trade war is in no one’s interest and my job is always to act in the UK’s national interest.”

Starmer linked the cost of living to the state of geopolitics, underlining why foreign affairs matter to people in the UK.

“Geopolitics is not something that happens somewhere else. It shapes the cost of energy, the price of food, the security of jobs and the stability that families rely on to plan their lives.”

When questioned, Starmer did not commit the UK to implementing retaliatory tariffs on the United States and called for “calm discussion” to resolve tensions over Greenland.

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