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European Union leaders on Saturday warned against US President Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on European countries until he has achieved his purchase of Greenland.

Cyprus, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Council, announced an extraordinary meeting of EU ambassadors in Brussels for Sunday afternoon.

And one senior German MEP said Trump’s latest threat raised a question mark over the EU-US trade deal agreed last year.

EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa, president of the European Council, issued the joint statement hours after Trump threatened multiple European nations with tariffs of up to 25 percent.

“Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral,” they wrote in a post on social media.

“Europe will remain united, coordinated, and committed to upholding its sovereignty,” they added.

The statement came days after Danish and Greenlandic officials held talks in Washington over Trump’s bid to acquire the territory, without reaching agreement.

“The EU stands in full solidarity with Denmark and the people of Greenland,” said the EU statement.

“Dialogue remains essential, and we are committed to building on the process begun already last week between the Kingdom of Denmark and the US.”

Trump said that from February 1, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland would be subject to a 10-per cent tariff on all goods sent to the United States.

German MEP Manfred Weber, head of the largest group in the European Parliament, the conservative EPP, said Trump’s latest remarks called into question the EU-US trade deal negotiated last year.

“The EPP is in favour of the EU–U.S. trade deal, but given Donald Trump’s threats regarding Greenland, approval is not possible at this stage,” he posted on X.

“The 0% tariffs on U.S. products must be put on hold,” he added.

Brussels and Washington clinched a deal in July for most EU exports to face a 15-per cent US levy, but both sides are still pushing for additional trade concessions.

AFP

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Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine was forcibly taken away in an army helicopter from his home on Friday, his party said, a day after elections marred by reports of violence.

President Yoweri Museveni is seeking to prolong his four-decade rule in an election that saw widespread repression and an internet blackout.

His main opponent, singer-turned-politician Bobi Wine earlier said he had been under house arrest after police surrounded his compound.

Late Friday, his party, the National Unity Platform (NUP) said in a post on X that an army helicopter had landed in the compound and “forcibly taken him away to an unknown destination”.

It said Wine’s private security guards were “violently assaulted” in the process.

Museveni was comfortably leading as votes were counted on Friday, with the Electoral Commission saying he was on 73.7 per cent to Wine’s 22.7 with close to 81 per cent of votes counted.

Final results were due around 1300 GMT on Saturday.

Authorities have imposed an internet blackout during the election.

Wine, 43, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, has emerged as the main challenger to Museveni in recent years.

The former singer styles himself the “ghetto president” after the slum areas of Kampala where he grew up.

There were reports of violence against the opposition in other parts of the country.

Muwanga Kivumbi, member of parliament for Wine’s party in the Butambala area of central Uganda, told AFP’s Nairobi office by phone that security forces had killed 10 of his campaign agents after storming his home.

His wife Zahara Nampewo, a law professor, said the 10 were hiding in their garage when security forces fired through the door.

“After killing them, the military continued firing,” Kivumbi said. “And they ensured that they removed all the evidence of the dead. You only have a pool of blood that is left here.”

Local police spokeswoman Lydia Tumushabe gave a different account, saying “a group of NUP goons” had planned to overrun and burn down a local tally centre and police station.

“An unspecified number were put out of action,” she told AFP, adding that 25 others had been arrested and charged with malicious damage of property.

Total control

Analysts have long viewed the election as a formality.

Museveni, a former guerrilla fighter who seized power in 1986, has total control over the state and security apparatus, and has ruthlessly crushed any challenger during his rule.

Election day was marred by significant technical problems after biometric machines — used to confirm voters’ identities — malfunctioned and ballot papers were undelivered for several hours in many areas.

There was a heavy security presence across the country.

The United Nations rights office said last week that the elections were taking place in an environment marked by “widespread repression and intimidation” against the opposition.

On Thursday, Wine accused the government of “massive ballot stuffing” and attacking several of his party officials under cover of the internet blackout, which was imposed on Tuesday.

[Credit: AFP]

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US President Donald Trump said Friday he may impose trade tariffs on countries that don’t support his plans to take over Greenland, part of the territory of NATO ally Denmark.

“I may put a tariff on countries if they don’t go along with Greenland, because we need Greenland for national security,” Trump said at a health roundtable at the White House.

“I may do that,” added Trump.

Trump compared the possible Greenland tariffs to those that he threatened on France and Germany last year over the price of pharmaceutical products.

The threat is the latest pressure tactic by Republican Trump as he steps up his bid to acquire the autonomous Arctic island, a goal that he has threatened to achieve by military means if necessary.

Trump claims the United States needs mineral-rich Greenland and has accused Greenland of not doing enough to ensure its security against rivals Russia and China.

European nations have in recent days shown their support for Denmark and Greenland over Trump’s escalating threats, including by sending troops to the strategic territory.

A bipartisan US Congress delegation also began a visit to Copenhagen on Friday to voice their backing for Denmark and Greenland.

The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland visited the White House on Wednesday for talks to defuse the issue but said afterwards that they remained in “fundamental disagreement” with Trump.

But the United States, Denmark and Greenland had agreed to set up a working group to continue talks every two to three weeks on the issue, the White House said on Thursday.