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timeThe Dutch call it blackmail U.K. Call it ‘wrong’, but Spain is the country that best illustrates the betrayal Donald TrumpThreats to impose tariffs on its allies to force Greenland Enter his kingdom.
Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sanchezindicating if Trump invades Greenland This would make Vladimir Putin the “happiest man on earth.”
EU and Britain is conducting emergency negotiations On how to respond to Trump’s latest threat to impose 10% tariffs on goods from eight countries unless Greenland was sold to the United States. Tariffs will rise to 25% on June 1.
Trump is a business clown. His companies have gone bankrupt six times, he failed to start an airline and a university, and lost his fortune in casinos. He also knew nothing about basic economics.
He described tariffs several times, Paid by U.S. consumers and businesses Payments are made in U.S. dollars in U.S. dollars as a “subsidy” when importing foreign goods.
The reality is that if he forces higher prices for goods in eight countries through tariffs, some of the increase will be borne by producers, some by middlemen, and in most cases, much of it by consumers — Americans.
Trump is indifferent to this reality.
Just as he ignored the advice of long-time allies that if he destroyed NATO, the United States would be vulnerable to threats from China and Russia, threats he claimed he wanted to guard against by integrating Greenland into the United States.
The UK is sticking to its commitment to Nato by sending an officer as a symbolic presence to Greenland on a symbolic European military mission. As UK negotiates 10% tariffs with Trump European UnionAlthough UK trade with the US fell by 15%, the decline in trade between the UK and the US is likely to cause more damage.
But if the UK seizes the crisis triggered by Trump as an opportunity to rejoin the EU on terms that tie it to the continent, it will stand to gain hugely economically, culturally and now in terms of security. That would make both sides safer — and stop Putin from dancing a happy jig around the Kremlin.
Last year, the UK and the EU failed to agree on the terms of the UK’s participation in the European Security Initiative (Safe) programme. This is a 150 billion euro loan facility designed to strengthen the EU’s defense industry capabilities in response to Russia’s threat to Europe and its invasion of Ukraine.
The UK is required to contribute €4-6 billion for membership. Canada will pay just $20 million, but the UK will be a formal partner rather than a “third party” country with limited access to funds.
The UK would have benefited hugely from cherry-picking this EU facility without having to pursue political integration – which is why the EU has set the fees so high.
But that was a few years ago in the Trump era. Last December on our calendar.
The EU needs the British arms industry. Britain needs economic and security protection from the EU.
Britain’s armed forces are small and poor, and their leaders say they face a £28 billion funding gap.
According to a recent report from the Economic Policy Center: “By 2025, we estimate that UK GDP per capita will be 6% to 8% lower than it would have been without Brexit. Investment is down 12% to 18%, employment is down 3% to 4%, and productivity is down 3% to 4%.”
Other estimates put the UK’s losses lower, but there is no doubt that Brexit is a strategic economic failure.
The performance of the Europeans was not easy either. Since 2016, the UK’s per capita GDP growth has been 4.5%, while Germany’s has been almost flat at 3.6%. France is only 7.5%.
The EU’s top diplomat Kaya Karas said U.S. tariffs would hit both sides of the Greenland debate but distract from the “core mission” of ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“China and Russia must be happy. They are the ones who benefit from the differences between their allies,” Karas said on X.
“Tariffs have the potential to make Europe and the United States poorer and undermine our shared prosperity. If Greenland’s security is threatened, we can address this within NATO,” she added.
The EU needs the UK’s help to do this. The UK has a lot to offer the EU: its armed forces and military industry will speed up and improve EU security.
Trump’s attacks on NATO’s existence, his disdain for Europe as a whole and his continued support for Putin’s land grabs mean Britain can agree better terms for rejoining the EU now than before the US president tore up international law and attacked America’s oldest friends.
The Greenland crisis is Britain’s best chance.