Mike Baker

In one of the post's lines, he jokingly wrote that Denmark has limited defenses on the island, writing that Greenland is protected by, quote, adding that only the U.S.

can secure it effectively.

From there, Trump played out the consequences.

He warned that Denmark, along with Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the U.K., the Netherlands, and Finland, will face a 10% tariff on all goods exported to the U.S., effective by the beginning of February.

And according to the White House, on the 1st of June, that rate will rise to 25% and remain in place, he said, quote, until such time as a deal is reached for the complete and total purchase of Greenland.

Now, if you're wondering why Trump chose those countries in particular, well, he recently said those nations, quote, journeyed to Greenland for purposes unknown, casting that activity as a threat to global safety.

As we've framed before, the world's largest island is at a critical Arctic crossroads, hosts a major U.S.

military base, and is becoming more strategically valuable as melting ice opens new shipping lanes and access to natural resources.

Trump said the U.S.

has sought to purchase Greenland for more than 150 years, but has been repeatedly rejected by the Danes.

He also tied his renewed push to advanced weapons systems in his proposed Golden Dome Missile Defense Initiative, arguing that that system can't operate at full capacity without Greenland's inclusion.

So, you ask, where do things stand now?

Well, Trump may declare that he's not closing the door on talks.

He wrote, quote, the U.S.

is immediately open to negotiation with Denmark and or any of these countries.

And that, my friends, is the president's daily brief for Monday, the 19th of January.

Now, if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdbatthefirsttv.com.

And hopefully you had a chance over the weekend to check out the latest episode of our PDB Situation Report.

As always, excellent guests, news and insight, but still no house band.

We're working on it.