Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Saturday said Senate Democrats will block President Trump's new 10 percent tariffs to be implemented on European countries over his calls for the U.S. to acquire Greenland.
"Donald Trump's foolhardy tariffs have already driven up prices and damaged our economy and now he is only making things worse," Schumer said in a statement. "It is incredible that he wants to double down on the stupidity by imposing tariffs on our closest allies for his quixotic quest to takeover Greenland."
"Senate Democrats will introduce legislation to block these tariffs before they do further damage to the American economy and our allies in Europe," he said.
Trump announced the tariffs earlier on Saturday, claiming on Truth Social that "World Peace is at stake!" He wrote that the tariffs will go into effect "until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland."
"China and Russia want Greenland, and there is not a thing that Denmark can do about it," Trump said, repeating his claim that the U.S. needs Greenland for national security purposes. "They currently have two dogsleds as protection, one added recently. Only the United States of America, under PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP, can play in this game, and very successfully, at that!"
Trump has threatened to take Greenland by military force, a move met with opposition from U.S. lawmakers and most Americans.
Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) slammed the tariffs, with Tillis calling them "bad for America, bad for American businesses, and bad for America's allies."
Murkowski warned that the tariffs will push allies in Europe away from the U.S.
"We are already seeing the consequences of these measures in real time: our NATO allies are being forced to divert attention and resources to Greenland, a dynamic that plays directly into Putin's hands by threatening the stability of the strongest coalition of democracies the world has ever seen," she wrote on X.
European leaders also announced that the major U.S.-European Union trade deal lauded last year by Trump and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen was put on hold. Von der Leyen said on Saturday that tariffs "undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral."
"Territorial integrity and sovereignty are fundamental principles of international law," she wrote on X. "They are essential for Europe and for the international community as a whole. We have consistently underlined our shared transatlantic interest in peace and security in the Arctic, including through NATO. The pre-coordinated Danish exercise, conducted with allies, responds to the need to strengthen Arctic security and poses no threat to anyone."
Whether European lawmakers take retaliatory action is unclear. Karin Karlsboro, a Swedish member of the European Parliament, told Politico that lawmakers could use an anti-coercion instrument to push punitive measures in response to Trump's new tariffs.