Trump maintains pressure on UK and other European allies over Greenland

Donald Trump has maintained pressure on European allies over his demand to seize control of Greenland as markets fell in response to his tariff threats.

The US president launched an attack on the UK decision to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, revealed messages from European leaders and posted images showing Greenland as US territory.

Mr Trump has threatened to hit the UK and other European allies with 10% tariffs from February 1 unless they agree to his purchase of Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory and he has refused to rule out using military force to seize the island.

In London, the FTSE 100 Index dropped more than 120 points soon after opening on Tuesday, down 1.3% at 10068.4, following a 0.4% fall on Monday.

European indices also remained heavily in the red, with the Dax in Germany down 1% and France’s Cac 40 off 0.9% in early trading, following sharp declines overnight in Asia.

The US president, who is travelling to Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday for the World Economic Forum, fired off a flurry of posts on his Truth Social platform overnight.

He posted a doctored image of European leaders in the Oval Office looking at a map on which Greenland, Canada and Venezuela were all covered in the US flag.

And he shared an image showing him, vice president JD Vance and secretary of state Marco Rubio raising the flag on Greenland next to a sign proclaiming it as “US territory est. 2026”.

In a sign of international leaders’ efforts to persuade Mr Trump back to more traditional diplomacy, the US president posted an image of a text message from France’s Emmanuel Macron offering to host an impromptu summit of G7 leaders in Paris on Thursday.

In the message Mr Macron said “I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland”.

He offered to set up a meeting of the G7, which includes the UK, alongside representatives from Denmark, Ukraine, Russia and Syria and also invited Mr Trump to dinner in Paris.

Mr Trump also published a message from Nato chief Mark Rutte saying: “I am committed to finding a way forward on Greenland” and promising to use media appearances in Davos to highlight the US president’s work on Syria, Ukraine and Gaza.

The US president’s most strident post was aimed at the UK, despite Sir Keir Starmer’s efforts to build a close relationship with Mr Trump.

He hit out at the deal to give the British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritius, calling it “an act of great stupidity”, claiming the decision by a Nato ally to give away territory showed why he was right to pursue control of Greenland.

“There is no doubt that China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness,” he said.

The agreement has previously been welcomed by the US and in May last year Mr Rubio said: “President Trump expressed his support for this monumental achievement”.

The UK has insisted the deal was necessary because international court decisions had put the status of the islands  and the important UK-US Diego Garcia military base in jeopardy.