VIDEO Greenland can only be defended if it is part of the US, a Trump minister claims. “America projects strength, Europeans weakness”
Scott Bessent, the US Secretary of the Treasury, photographed during a press conference he held at the White House, PHOTO: RS/MPI / Capital pictures / Profimedia
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is defending the US president's plan to impose additional tariffs on countries that oppose the ceding of Greenland, saying Donald Trump is making a “strategic” geopolitical decision to use US “economic power” to “avoid a hot war”.
Scott Bessent spoke on NBC News on Sunday about Donald Trump's threat to impose additional tariffs on several European allies until “an agreement for the full and complete sale of Greenland” is reached.
“The goal is to avoid a future national emergency,” Bessent said on NBC News' “Meet the Press.”
Since taking his second term, Trump has imposed steep tariffs on countries around the world, invoking the US International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which allows a president to regulate imports in emergency situations.
Asked what national emergency justifies tariffs against countries that oppose Trump's Greenland ambitions, Scott Bessent replied that “national emergency is avoiding a national emergency.”
Bessent also says Trump is trying to “avoid a conflict” by annexing Greenland. “It's a strategic decision by the president. It's a geopolitical decision, and he can use the economic power of the United States to avoid a hot war.”
“What we know is that Greenland can only be defended if it's part of the US, and if it's part of the US it won't need to be defended,” he added.
“The Europeans are projecting weakness, the US is projecting strength,” the US official claimed. “I think the Europeans will understand that this is the best thing for Greenland, for Europe and for the United States,” Bessent said.
“The world order and NATO are at stake,” the Europeans say
The world order “as we know it” and the “future” of NATO are at stake in the face of Donald Trump's threats regarding Greenland, Denmark's foreign minister said on Sunday, assuring that he does not doubt European support in this matter, writes AFP.
“I have no doubt that there is strong and generous European support,” assured Danish minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, who is visiting Oslo, Norway, a country also targeted by these tariff threats formulated by the US president.
“We have a striking force (…) when we show our muscles collectively and in a solidarity manner, and it is obvious that we have to do that,” added Rasmussen, during a joint press conference with his Norwegian counterpart, Espen Barth Eide.
“Europe will not allow itself to be blackmailed”. How European states that support Greenland are responding to Trump's tariff threats
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Trump on Saturday threatened several European countries – Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, Britain, the Netherlands and Finland – to impose additional tariffs on them until “an agreement for the full and complete sale of Greenland” is reached. This surcharge, of 10%, will become effective from February 1 and could reach 25% on June 1, Trump said.
The European Union on Sunday faced calls to institute a previously unused set of economic countermeasures known as the “Anti-Coercion Tool” as part of the EU bloc's response to US President Donald Trump's threats of tariffs against European allies over Greenland.
Emergency meeting in the EU on Sunday, after Trump's threats / Disclosure from Macron's entourage, what the French president wants to do
“It's a scary time.” The EU is preparing a response to Trump over Greenland, and some are considering an unimaginable option. The first step has already been taken
