President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he would not impose tariffs on eight European countries that were set to go into effect Feb. 1 unless those nations allowed the United States to take control of Greenland.
On Saturday, Trump said he would hit Denmark, the United Kingdom and other countries involved in NATO exercises with a 10% tariff starting next month.
“Based upon a very productive meeting that I have had with the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, we have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“Based upon this understanding, I will not be imposing the Tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on February 1st,” he added.
Trump had said that if those countries did not comply with his demands by June, the tariff would rise to 25%.
Trump’s comments over the weekend roiled global markets.
Stocks soared to the highs of the day on his announcement that the tariffs were off.
Further details of the deal Trump described on social media were not immediately available from the White House. But in an interview with CNBC, Trump said that the deal was “pretty much the concept of a deal” and that it would last “forever.”
NATO spokeswoman Allison Hart said Trump and Rutte had a “productive” meeting.
“The framework the President referenced will focus on ensuring Arctic security through the collective efforts of Allies, especially the seven Arctic Allies,” Hart said in a statement.
“Negotiations between Denmark, Greenland, and the United States will go forward aimed at ensuring that Russia and China never gain a foothold — economically or militarily — in Greenland,” she added.
Trump’s announcement came hours after the possibility of the United States obtaining sovereignty over land for military bases was discussed during separate meetings in Brussels among top military officers from NATO member states, the New York Times reported, citing three senior Western officials familiar with the talks.
Asked about the reporting by NBC News, Hart stressed that Rutte did not propose any compromise to sovereignty during his meeting with Trump in Davos on Wednesday.
The Danish government welcomed Trump’s announcement.
“The day is ending on a better note than it began,” foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said. “We welcome that President Trump has ruled out to take Greenland by force and paused the trade war with Europe.”
“Now, let’s sit down and find out how we can address the American security concerns in the Arctic while respecting the red lines of the Kingdom of Denmark,” said Rasmussen.
Hours before Trump’s announcement, the European Union’s parliament halted final approval of a critical trade deal that Trump reached with the bloc last summer.
E.U. leaders were also scheduled to hold an emergency summit Thursday to coordinate a response to Trump’s threats.
On Wednesday morning, Trump told an audience of leaders gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that he still wanted the U.S. to control Greenland, but that he would not use force to seize the semi-autonomous Danish territory.
Instead, he said, he wanted “immediate negotiations” with Denmark.
“We will not enter into any negotiations on the basis of giving up fundamental principles,” Denmark’s foreign minister told reporters in Copenhagen.
In his Truth Social post, Trump said “additional discussions” related to Greenland would be led by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s special envoy for peace, Steve Witkoff.
Those officials are also simultaneously leading discussions with Ukraine and Russia, as well as managing a host of other pressing foreign policy issues.
Rubio is the interim national security adviser and the acting national archivist, in addition to head of the State Department.