THE GUARDIAN: US president claims ‘framework’ of agreement in the works after ‘very productive’ meeting with Nato secretary general
Donald Trump has walked back his threat to impose sweeping US tariffs on eight European countries, claiming he had agreed “the framework of a future deal” on Greenland.
Four days after vowing to introduce steep import duties on a string of US allies over their support for Greenland’s continued status as an autonomous Danish territory, the president backed down.
The US will not hit Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Finland with tariffs of 10% from 1 February after all, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. Over the weekend, he had also threatened to lift the tariffs to 25% from 1 June.
The threat had prompted widespread apprehension; criticism from senior European politicians, who declared they “will not allow ourselves to be blackmailed”; and warnings from economists. » | Lauren Aratani in New York and Andrew Roth | Wednesday, January 21, 2026
