With tariffs and threats, Trump turns on America’s closest allies
Critics warn his posture could embolden China to expand ties to Latin American countries, and Russia to continue advances in Ukraine.
Trump administration officials say that the approach has delivered some quick wins — such as forcing Colombian President Gustavo Petro to back down last weekend and allow the continuation of deportation flights into his country after turning around two military airplanes. Danish leaders, meanwhile, announced a nearly $2 billion investment in Greenland’s security — a step that is unlikely to satisfy Trump’s aim of taking control of the territory but is still an attempt to quell his hunger.
But critics warn that Trump’s might-makes-right style could easily backfire. China has fresh arguments in Latin America that it is a more predictable partner than Washington, some critics say. And in Europe, leaders have been forced to focus on a demand for territorial conquest by their closest ally and protector rather than strategize about how to bolster Ukraine as Russia continues to make advances. Some European policymakers also warn that if Trump hits them with tariffs, as he said Friday he would “absolutely” do, they’ll also be less cooperative on his China policy.
“Any country, Colombia or Brazil or Chile, if their exports are being hit in a certain country, the first natural reaction is to go to another country, like China, that is increasing their presence in Latin America to see if they will buy their products in better conditions,” said Juan Manuel Santos, a former president of Colombia. “In the long run, yes, this creates damage to the country that is being targeted, but the long-run consequence is negative for everybody.”
Trump says that he is pushing back on years of U.S. allies taking Washington's support for granted. Countries that are dependent on Washington's goodwill have no standing to spurn his requests for territory, accepting deported migrants or any other demand, he says.
“You’re going to take them, you’re going to like it too,” Trump said Wednesday about his showdown with Colombia, sparking laughter and applause among supporters in the East Room of the White House as he signed the first legislation of his term, the Laken Riley Act, which will allow the detention of undocumented immigrants accused of theft-related crimes.
The president boasted that his tariff threats forced a quick turnaround by Colombian leaders.
“Colombia apologized to us profusely within an hour, based on something I said, meaning you’re going to pay tariffs like nobody’s ever paid tariffs before,” Trump claimed, reveling in his ability to force another leader to his will.
Trump’s tactics are unusual — and a departure even from his first term, when he imposed tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum from Europe and a wide range of products from China, among other targets. But those actions were typically related in some way to trade issues: bolstering U.S. manufacturing, or pushing back against what Trump said were intellectual property theft and other unfair practices by China.
This time, though, Trump is using tariffs as a tool of broader coercion — a tactic that critics say weakens Washington's principled arguments against other nations, like China and Russia, that have attempted to bully their neighbors into submission.
Trump said Friday that China, Mexico and Canada would face tariffs because “all three haven’t treated us very well”: China because it allowed a fentanyl industry to manufacture illicit drugs for export to the United States, Mexico for what he said was allowing a porous border, and Canada for an “unfair” trade imbalance.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday vowed a “forceful” response against the United States for the tariffs.
Trump has also set sights on Panama, because of the canal; Brazil, India and others, threatening them not to pursue attempts to reduce reliance on the U.S. dollar; and the European Union, which he said Friday “has treated us so terribly.”
The demands on a close ally have been on particularly vivid display as Trump takes aim at Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark. Trump says he wants Greenland to become part of the United States — and he is pushing the issue even over Danish objections. Some Danes say a hostile takeover would embolden Beijing’s appetite for Taiwan and the Kremlin’s claims on Ukraine.
Danish leaders have been especially concerned by Trump's approach after a contentious phone call between him and Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen the week before the inauguration, three European policymakers said, speaking on condition of anonymity to talk candidly about a sensitive discussion. The call was first reported by the Financial Times.
Danish leaders did not initially take Trump’s comments about wanting a U.S. takeover of the autonomous territory fully seriously, thinking it was a rhetorical flourish intended to start a negotiation about improved U.S. access to the island, which sits atop a trove of critical minerals and is also a lookout point for Arctic military activity. That changed after the call, the European policymakers said.
Danish policymakers privately express disbelief at Trump’s approach, noting that Denmark fought alongside Americans in Afghanistan for 20 years as an _expression_ of allied solidarity, despite the fact that the war was unpopular among their electorate.
Trump “just speaks bluntly and frankly with people. And ultimately I think diplomacy in many cases works better when you’re straightforward as opposed to using platitudes and language that translates to nothing,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told SiriusXM’s Megyn Kelly last week.
Frederiksen on Tuesday made a blitz visit around Europe, dropping by Berlin, Paris and Brussels for crisis talks with fellow leaders. That type of schedule is more typically reserved for imminent threats of invasion rather than conversations about how to deal with an ally.
In her public appearances, Frederiksen held back from referencing Trump or his threats by name, but it was clear that the demands from Washington were driving her mission.
“We need to step up in Europe. We need a stronger, and a more resolute Europe standing increasingly in its own right,” she told reporters in a joint appearance with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz after they met on Tuesday.
Scholz backed her in language he acknowledged was applied more often to Russia and China.
“The inviolability of borders is a fundamental principle of international law,” he said.
“Borders must not be changed by force,” he said, switching to English to add: “to whom it may concern.”
But Trump has offered little sign that he is willing to concede.
“I think Greenland will be worked out with us. I think we’re going to have it,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Monday. “I don’t know, really, what claim Denmark has to it, but it would be a very unfriendly act if they didn’t allow that to happen. Because that’s for protection of the free world. It’s not for us. It’s for the free world.”
European policymakers say that if Trump imposes tariffs, they think that they can hold together and level a common, European Union-wide response. The European Union’s common trading market is almost as large as that of the United States, giving it economic leverage against Washington — provided that its 27 countries stay united. But any dispute could escalate quickly, especially since the bloc remains dependent on the United States to defend it.
Critics of Trump’s approach say that the president ought to embrace ties to allies, not take advantage of them to wrest away territory.
“We — Americans — do not want to now join Putin in trying to pull apart a sovereign country,” Michael McFaul, an ambassador to Russia under President Barack Obama, wrote on Substack. “Not only would that embolden Putin’s claim in eastern Ukraine … but greenlight [Chinese President Xi Jinping]’s seizing of Taiwan. If we think we need Greenland for national security, Xi can easily argue that he needs Taiwan.”
One senior European security official warned that an aggressive approach from Washington could easily backfire.
If the United States “is not going to help Europe with Russia, Europe will not be able to help the U.S. with China,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to speak frankly about frustrations with Washington. “Better work together.”