US threatens tariffs over Greenland
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If journalism is the first draft of history, what happens if that draft is flawed? In 1999, four Russian apartment buildings were bombed, hundreds killed. But even now, we still don't know for sure who did it. It's a mystery that sparked chilling theories. I'm Helena Merriman, and in a new BBC series, I'm talking to the reporters who first covered this story. What did they miss the first time? The History Bureau, Putin and the apartment bombs. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritson, and in the early hours of Sunday, the 18th of January, these are our main stories. Demonstrations in Greenland as Donald Trump threatens export tariffs on eight European countries which oppose his plan to take control of the semi-autonomous Danish territory. Uganda's electoral authorities declare Yori Museveni president for a seventh term despite opposition accusations of widespread voter fraud. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, admits, as he puts it, a few thousand people died in the recent anti-government protests. Also in this podcast. Get off the fence.
We will identify you and come arrest you. Get off the fence. We will come arrest you.
A US federal judge in Minnesota has ruled that 3,000 ICE agents sent to Minneapolis should face restrictions on what tactics they can use. Ever since his first presidency, Donald Trump was keen to get hold of Greenland. But since the audacious US raid on Venezuela, the president has been increasingly strident about his desire to buy the semi-autonomous Danish territory. On Saturday, he threatened eight European allies with tariffs if they continue to oppose his plan, starting at 10% before rising to 25%. The nations in the firing line include Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany and the UK. Just hours before the announcement, people in Greenland took to the streets to protest against Mr Trump's threats to annex the Arctic Territory.
We don't want...
anyone to take our country we want to be our own country we don't want them here tell a message to the world and to donald trump that he should keep his hands off greenland i strongly believe that europe and denmark is a great and very important alliance for greenland and yes i do believe in the world's big alliances to step up and be a part of what's happening at the moment.
The message is that Greenland is not for sale. We want to have our own country. Greenland will always be Greenland. We don't want to have war.
Stephen Miller, Mr Trump's deputy chief of staff, told the Fox News channel in the US why the president was so focused on Greenland.
Greenland is essential for America's national security. The new domain of international competition is going to be polar competition. That is where more and more resources are being spent by our nation's adversaries and rivals, is the ability to control movement, navigation, lanes of travel in the polar and Arctic regions. Greenland is 25% larger than Alaska. Greenland is the size of one-fourth the continental United States. With respect to Denmark, Denmark is a tiny country with a tiny economy and a tiny military. They cannot defend Greenland. They cannot control the territory of Greenland.
The French President Emmanuel Macron called Mr Trump's threat of tariffs unacceptable, saying Europe would respond in a united and coordinated manner. Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer said applying tariffs on allies for defending NATO's collective security is completely wrong. And European Union leaders have warned the tariffs risk a dangerous downward spiral in transatlantic relations. I asked our North America correspondent David Willis if President Trump's threats and fresh economic tariffs would help him to take control of Greenland. They may well certainly serve, I think, to fire a shot across the bowels of many European leaders, Alex. And President Trump has now drawn the EU into the political brinkmanship surrounding Greenland's future.
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