Sir Keir Starmer has said he “will not yield” over his support for Greenland amid Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs.
Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir said: “Threats of tariffs to pressurise allies are completely wrong.
“But I do want to be clear with the House: I will not yield, Britain will not yield on our principles and values about the future of Greenland under threats of tariffs.”
President Donald Trump threatened the UK and other European nations with a 10% tariff on all baseline goods coming to the US over the weekend, unless a deal can be reached on Greenland.
He says he wants to purchase Greenland, a self-autonomous Danish territory, for national security reasons.
But Sir Keir insisted to MPs that he had “made [his] position on Greenland absolutely clear”, while he added that he would “engage constructively” with Mr Trump.
“The first of those is that the future of Greenland is for the people of Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark alone,” he reiterated.
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Sir Keir did not explicitly rule out retaliatory tariffs, but appeared to steer away from them.
On Tuesday, the president hit out at the government’s deal to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, calling it “an act of great stupidity” and saying the agreement is another reason why the US must own Greenland.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch sought to use those criticisms of the Chagos deal to her advantage.
But the prime minister insisted Mr Trump’s comments about the Chagos Archipelago are only an attempt to force his hand on Greenland.
Sir Keir said: “President Trump deployed words on Chagos yesterday that were different to his previous words of welcome and support when I met him in the White House.
“He deployed those words yesterday for the express purpose of putting pressure on me and Britain in relation to my values and principles on the future of Greenland.”
“[Trump] wants me to yield on my position, and I’m not going to do so.”
The PM also hit out at Ms Badenoch raising the US president’s comments on the deal.
He said: “Now she appears to support words by President Trump to undermine the government’s position on the future of Greenland. She’s chosen naked opportunism over the national interest.”
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