British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has called for calm discussion to avert a possible trade war with the US over Greenland, appealing to President Donald Trump to respect alliances such as NATO rather than undermine them.
All but ruling out retaliatory levies against the United States if Trump carried out his threat to impose tariffs on imports from Britain and seven other countries unless the US was allowed to buy Greenland, Starmer sought to de-escalate the war of words.
He used an early morning press conference to set out what he described as the values underpinning his approach towards Trump, which has been criticised by opposition politicians for being too weak, by saying “pragmatic does not mean being passive”.
After telling Trump his threatened tariffs were wrong on Sunday, Starmer doubled down to say he would use “the full strength of government” to try to stop the US decision, one, he said, that could only hurt already stretched households.
“Tariffs should not be used against allies in this way,” Starmer said, adding that he was not looking to escalate a tariff war at this point.
“A tariff war is in nobody’s interests, and we have not got to that stage. And my focus, therefore, is making sure we don’t get to that stage.”
Trump threatened tariffs on imports from the eight nations that sent small numbers of military personnel to Greenland last week, following Trump’s repeated statements he wanted to take over Denmark’s vast Arctic island to ensure US security.
Starmer said he told Trump on Sunday those forces were “clearly there to assess and work on risk from the Russians”. He said he hoped that there was now “real clarity” about that.
The British prime minister signalled his approach would differ from that of the European Union, which has discussed options to respond, including a package of tariffs on 93 billion euros ($A162 billion) of US imports.
Instead, he said, Britain should work to nurture a relationship with the United States that was crucial for UK security, intelligence and defence, while disagreeing with the tariff threat and working diplomatically to avert it.
Starmer said the threats risked causing a “downward spiral” for Britain, in terms of trade and the weakening of alliances.
“I do not want to see that happen,” he said, but he added: “That doesn’t mean that we put to one side our principles and our values. Quite the contrary, we’re very clear about what they are.”
Starmer has built a solid relationship with Trump and in May 2025 he became the first leader to secure a deal to lower some tariffs.
Asked if he thought Trump was genuinely considering military action, Starmer said: “I don’t, actually. I think that this can be resolved and should be resolved through calm discussion.”
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