The U.S. has no claim to Greenland

January 21, 2026
Ed Gresser

FACT: The U.S. has no claim to Greenland.

THE NUMBERS: Trump tariff threats last week –

10% tariffs on goods from Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, and the U.K., rising to 25% by summer.

WHAT THEY MEAN:

Over the weekend, Mr. Trump threatened to impose tariffs of 10% on February 1, rising to 25% by summer, on goods from eight historic allies — Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom — over their unwillingness to support his strange ambition to acquire Greenland. So far, the White House has published no actual decree or other document giving this threat any force, and — as with last October’s threat for a similar 10% tariff on Canadian goods, meant to retaliate for an Ontario government advertisement quoting the late President Reagan on tariffs — perhaps it will simply go away.

That autumn threat, however, has done lasting harm: after a year of Mr. Trump’s provocations, the Canadian government has felt forced to make auto-trade and other arrangements with China to diminish the effect of any U.S. tariff on Canadian goods. The harm done by last week’s threat against America’s European friends will likewise escalate over time until it is reversed.

With this in mind, three points: the U.S. has no legal, historic, or other claim to Greenland; the administration’s effort to make such a claim is corroding American security; and Congress should repeal any tariffs on these countries immediately, and then reform trade law more generally to halt tariff innovation by decree and restore Constitutionally appropriate policymaking. More –

1. Greenland: Greenland is an autonomous country, constitutionally one of three realms of the Danish monarchy, with an elected government that sets its own policies. It is a NATO ally, with a large U.S. military base and an open economy. The governments of both Greenland and Denmark worked closely with the U.S. for eight decades on Arctic security (and often have been advocates of larger Arctic defense commitments than U.S. administrations have been willing to make), resource mining, and any other actual policy concerns, and remain willing to do so. Both have also made clear that sovereignty is not negotiable: neither Danes nor Greenlanders are interested, any more than Americans would be interested in selling off chunks of U.S. land and people to other countries. There is no Greenland “issue.”

2. Security: U.S. military alliance with the world’s advanced democracies — Western Europe, Canada, Japan, Korea, Australia — has been the foundation of American national security and world peace since the Second World War. It needs to remain so. Denmark specifically, as PPI’s Ed Gresser observed last year, is a four-generation ally and good neighbor, which committed 21,000 soldiers to the U.S.’s call for help in Afghanistan and Iraq and lost 50. National Security Director Peter Juul noted last week that threats and abuse against allies and good neighbors — that is, adventures which put this foundation of security at risk — are madness, and adds some time-to-break-the-glass ideas on ways Congress can usefully respond.

3. Tariffs: Congress has Constitutional authority over “Taxes, Duties, Imposts, and Excises,” and needs to use it now. Mr. Trump has shown, repeatedly, over the past year, that he cannot responsibly manage any delegated tariff powers. Congress, and in particular Rep. Jason Smith and House Speaker Mike Johnson, need to remove his temptation to use them. This requires laws to (a) cancel any tariffs on Americans buying Danish or other European goods, and (b) require Congressional approval of any future tariffs imposed under trade laws including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (“IEEPA”, the basis for most of last year’s tariff decrees, presumably meant by Congress to help address rather than try to create emergencies); the various “Sections” of trade law 232, 301, 122, and 338; and (c) likewise require Congressional approval for entering, or leaving, trade agreements with tariff components.

Such bills already exist. With leadership from Sens. Ron Wyden and Rand Paul last October, the Senate has already voted to terminate Mr. Trump’s IEEPA tariff decrees. The House bill introduced last spring by Trade Subcommittee Ranking Member Linda Sanchez and the other Ways and Means Committee Democrats, HR 2888, would cancel all of Mr. Trump’s “emergency” and “national security” tariffs and require Congressional approval of any new ones. Now would be a good time for them.

Last point: As we — again — noted last year, the world is full of complex challenges, painful choices among lesser evils, and chronic problems with no obvious solution. The status of Greenland isn’t one of them. To the extent there is any problem, it is quite new and has an obvious and easy solution: the Trump administration should stop causing it.