Giorgia Meloni, a far-right Italian leader, urged Washington to avoid making a “mistake” as European leaders responded to US President Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs on Sunday due to their disagreement to his plans for Greenland.
Since returning to the White House for a second term, Trump has made no secret of his ambition to take control of the large Arctic island, which is Denmark’s autonomous territory. A recent escalation of this claim has severely damaged transatlantic relations.
On Saturday, he raised the stakes once further by threatening to impose tariffs on eight European nations for sending a few dozen troops to Greenland as part of a military exercise.
Meloni, who gets along well with Trump, claimed to have told him that punishing Europe economically would be a “mistake.” “I believe that imposing new sanctions today would be a mistake,” Meloni told reporters while visiting Seoul. “I spoke to Donald Trump a few hours ago and told him what I think.”
Meloni told reporters that “there has been a problem of understanding and communication” between Europe and the United States on Greenland in an attempt to minimize the confrontation.
She said it was up to NATO to take an active role in the growing crisis.
UK Culture Minister Lisa Nandy told the BBC that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer intends to speak with Trump “at the earliest opportunity” and that the president’s tariff threat is “wrong.”
“We believe it’s deeply unhelpful, and we believe it’s counterproductive, and the prime minister has not shied away from making that clear,” she stated.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron urged the European Union to use its potent “anti-coercion instrument” to counter the planned tariffs.
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