Prime Minister Kier Starmer told the House of Commons that “Britain will not yield on our principles and values on the future of Greenland under threats and tariffs”
Speaking this lunchtime at PMQ’s Starmer said that
“Trump deployed words on Chagos yesterday that were different to his previous words of welcome and support when I met him… for the express purpose of putting pressure on me & Britain in relation to my values & principles on the future of Greenland.”
A Labour MP demanded Sir Keir Starmer impose retaliatory tariffs on Donald Trump if the US hits the UK with new tariffs next month.
Steve Witherden said: “The thug in the White House has shown that he doesn’t listen to grovelling or sycophancy. He’ll continue to harm British interests no matter how compliant we are, and like all bullies he will always find the weakest link.
“Will the Prime Minister close ranks with our European allies and commit to retaliatory tariffs?”
The Prime Minister replied: “I’ve made our position clear. I’ve set out my principles, I’m not going to yield on those principles. But as I said on Monday, of course we need to protect our national interest and we will always protect our national interest.
“But simply hurtling at the first opportunity into a trade war is going to hurt working people and businesses across the country and that’s why I’m working hard to make sure we do not get to that point and I’ll continue to act in our national interest.”
The exchanges in the Commons coincided with Donald Trump’s arrival at the World Economic Forum in Davos when to the relief of many he vowed he would not use force to take control of Greenland, after months of refusing to rule out military action.
“We probably won’t get anything unless I decide to use excessive strength and force where we would be, frankly, unstoppable. But I won’t do that,” he said.
“People thought I would use force. I don’t have to use force. I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force. All the United States is asking for is a place called Greenland,” he said.
In his speech to delegates he slammed “certain places” in Europe as “not recognizable”
“And we can argue about it, but there’s no argument,” he said. “Friends come back from different places. I don’t want to insult anybody, and say, I don’t recognize it. And that’s not in a positive way. That’s in a very negative way. And I love Europe, and I want to see Europe go good. But it’s not heading in the right direction.”
Laying into Europe’s support for renewable energy, the U.S. president attacked the U.K.:
“They’re sitting on top of the North Sea, one of the greatest reserves anywhere in the world. But they don’t use it, and that’s one reason why their energy has reached catastrophically low levels with equally high prices.”
The president also rejected accusations that North Sea oil was depleted: “They haven’t even found the oil,” Trump argued. “The North Sea is incredible,” he added, but “they don’t let anybody drill environmentally.”
Among his other pronouncements The President poked fun at French President Emmanuel Macron’s choice to wear sunglasses when he delivered an address at Davos due to an eye health problem.
“I watched him yesterday with those beautiful sunglasses. What the hell happened?” Trump said.
