LONDON – British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday vowed he would not bow to pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump over Washington’s push to acquire Greenland, accusing Trump of reversing his stance on a separate Indian Ocean islands deal to try to force Britain’s hand.
Starmer said Trump had shifted from earlier support for an agreement on the disputed Chagos Islands to open criticism of the deal in order to increase leverage on London after the British leader publicly opposed U.S. plans to buy Greenland from Denmark.“I will not yield, Britain will not yield, on our principles and values about the future of Greenland under threats of tariffs, and that is my clear position,” Starmer told lawmakers, noting that the Danish prime minister would visit London on Thursday for talks.
The Labour prime minister has called for “calm discussion” on the future of Greenland and has signalled he does not want to escalate a trade war, after Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Britain and other European nations unless Washington is allowed to purchase the vast Arctic territory.
The following day Trump branded Britain “stupid and weak” for agreeing a deal to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean to Mauritius while safeguarding the future of a joint U.S.-UK air base there, despite his administration having previously welcomed the agreement.“President Trump deployed words on Chagos yesterday that were different from his previous words of welcome and support,” Starmer said in parliament.
“He deployed those words yesterday for the express purpose of putting pressure on me and Britain in relation to my values and principles on the future of Greenland.”Starmer, who has sought to maintain close trade and security ties with Washington, delivered some of his sharpest public criticism of Trump to date, insisting that the fate of Greenland should be decided by its people and by Denmark, not through external economic coercion.
Starmer said Trump’s renewed attacks on the Chagos agreement stemmed from “the fact that he wants me to yield on my position, and I’m not going to do so.”Pressed by some lawmakers to take an even tougher line against Trump, Starmer stressed that Britain still needed to work with the United States on shared priorities, including support for Ukraine and broader defence and intelligence cooperation.
“That does not mean we agree with the U.S. on everything,” he said. “But it is foolhardy to think that we should rip up our relationship with the U.S., abandon Ukraine and so many other things that are important to our defence, security and intelligence.”