Donald Trump’s latest move against the UK has been defended by Greg Swenson as the US President has doubled down on his bid to obtain more control of Greenland.
Speaking to GB News, the Chairman of Republians Overseas UK said it was “important” that the US gains more control of the territory, and the outcome of the tariffs will be “productive for everybody”.
Donald Trump has vowed to implement a wave of increasing tariffs on a wave of countries including Britain until the US is allowed to purchase Greenland.
Announcing the move on Truth Social, Mr Trump said: “Starting on February 1, 2026, all of the above mentioned Countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, and Finland), will be charged a 10 per cent tariff on any and all goods sent to the United States of America.
“On June 1, 2026, the tariff will be increased to 25 per cent.
“This tariff will be due and payable until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland.”
Discussing the announcement on GB News, Mr Swenson said: “It’s classic President Trump. He does something that’s provocative, comes out of the gates asking for 100 per cent, and we all know he’ll always settle for 50.
“And so the outcome is what’s important to President Trump. The way he goes about it is different than other presidents and the other leaders, but he’s all about the outcome.
Greg Swenson has defended Donald Trump’s latest move in his bid to obtain control of Greenland
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GB NEWS / PA / REUTERS
“So I think the media and many politicians will freak out on the news and then they’ll settle down, and then the outcome will be productive for everybody, not just for the US.”
Asked by host Nana Akua what a “productive outcome” looks like, Mr Swenson explained: “I think it’s a number of things. One is US control of the defence and security of Greenland. Essentially we already are the defence of Greenland and we are the majority or the 50 per cent of the power in NATO, probably more. And so the US is Nato.
“So in many respects we already are defending Greenland on behalf of Denmark, funny enough, and defending Greenland on behalf of Nato and Europe. So I think it needs to be more control of that security because of the space issues, the connectivity to space because of the Arctic routes, the Arctic shipping routes and the threat from China and Russia.
“So the list is pretty long on why the US should be in control.”
Donald Trump has repeatedly said Greenland is vital to US security | REUTERSHe continued: “And then of course there’s the critical minerals and the oil and gas. And that’s important not just to the US, but important to Nato and to Europe. But who’s going to do that, Denmark? I don’t think so.
“I think it’s important that the US has just more control. That doesn’t mean we have to own it, it doesn’t mean we have to be a colonial power of any sort. It’s just about control.”
Asked what difference it would make to Donald Trump having further control of Greenland, Mr Swenson told GB News: “We already have a lot of capability there, but it’s enough and it’s really on the margins that we need a bit more. And so yes, we can add bases there, but we have to have the permission of Copenhagen, and that’s probably not going to work when we are providing the security.
“And yet we have to have the blessing of a colonial power. It’s not a colony officially, but it’s a territory of Denmark. So we need to have the control of and the ability to build more bases and add security to Greenland without having to get permission from either Greenland or Denmark.”
Mr Swenson told GB News that he believes Donald Trump ‘will get there’ in securing Greenland control
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GB NEWS
He added: “And then, of course, with the critical minerals, Greenland still controls that, they have a moratorium on additional oil and gas licences right now and they’ve banned uranium mining. And that could be a permanent ban.
“So there’s things on the margin that weneed to improve and that’s really what the president’s getting at. And I think he’ll get there.”
Grilled on what Mr Trump is “afraid of the Chinese and Russians getting hold of”, Mr Swenson responded: “Ultimately it’s the rare earth minerals. China controls 90 per cent of the rare earth minerals in the world and they are very aggressive in the way they handle those markets. So that kind of security dependency on an adversary is really unsustainable.
“So I think the rare earth minerals and other critical minerals are really important and to the president right now. So he’s thinking long term. There’s a lot of noise in the short term, but I do think that the China issue is a serious one.
“Not only the shipping lanes that they could ultimately not necessarily control, but they could dominate the shipping lanes as well as Russia. And so I think that it’s in addition to the shipping lanes, it’s definitely critical minerals. That’s part of every formula that the president considers.”
