John Swinney has accused US President Donald Trump of issuing “economic threats” that are “deeply damaging” after Trump announced tariffs on the UK and other Nato countries in a dispute over Greenland. The Scottish First Minister insisted the threatened tariffs were “the wrong thing to do”, claiming they would harm the economies of Scotland and the UK.
Mr Swinney warned that the tariffs could also be “very damaging” in a “diplomatic and security sense”. His remarks came as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the dispute over Greenland – which Mr Trump wants to take over due to its strategic Arctic location and mineral wealth – must be resolved through “calm discussion between allies” rather than military action or a trade war. Sir Keir signalled Britain would not impose retaliatory tariffs, insisting this was “not the right way to resolve differences within an alliance”.
Mr Trump said he would charge the UK a 10% tariff on all goods sent to the US from February 1, rising to 25% from June 1, until a deal is reached for Washington to purchase Greenland from Denmark. The same tariffs will apply to Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland – all Nato members. Mr Trump has not ruled out military action to achieve his aim of taking the territory, which is a semi-autonomous part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
In an emergency address from Downing Street, Sir Keir said the crisis was a “moment for the whole country to pull together”. Mr Swinney added: “The people of Greenland must be able to decide their own future, that is their right. It is not appropriate for the United States to use economic threats on others through the application of tariffs to try to get their way in the face of the right of the people of Greenland to decide their own future.”
Scottish Conservative business spokesperson Murdo Fraser said the tariff threat “would be devastating for industries key to Scotland’s economy”, particularly whisky and textiles. He noted that the whisky industry had lost 1,000 jobs in the last year alone and said he had submitted a question to SNP ministers asking them to protect jobs and make clear to President Trump that the tariffs should not be introduced.
