CHICAGO, January 20, 2026 — Just like that, President Trump has dropped his threat to jack up the tariffs on food-away-from-home supplies from Europe.
The surprising about-face followed a meeting between Trump and Mark Rutte, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on the future of Greenland. The sit-down, held during the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, resulted in a “framework on a future deal” that will determine the Arctic island nation’s fate, Trump said in a post on the Truth Social social-media network.
“This solution, if consummated, will be a great one for the United States of America, and all NATO Nations,” Trump wrote.
Neither party to the negotiations revealed any particulars of the agreed-upon framework. But beforehand, in a widely viewed speech to attendees of the WEC, Trump said that he would not use military force to gain control of Greenland.
He did not back away from his assertions that ownership of Greenland is critical to the defense of the United States and its allies worldwide.
No other nation, including eight European allies of the U.S., has agreed with that assessment.
Trump had threatened last weekend to raise the duties on virtually all the goods those nation export to the U.S. Tariffs on the foods and beverages from France, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, and Norway would be raised 10% from the heightened current levels, Trump warned.
That would have hiked the tariffs on goods from all the nations except the U.K. to 25%. The U.K., the lone nation among the eight that is not part of the European Union, would see the tariffs on its imports to the U.S. rise to 20%.
And the duties could go higher, Trump indicated. Informed that French President Emmanuel Macron was particularly resistant to a U.S. takeover of Greenland, Trump remarked that he’d raise the tariffs on French wines and Champagne to 200% if Macron didn’t drop his opposition.
The European nations had responded to Trump’s threats with assertions that they’d employ what’s known as “the big bazooka,” a set of actions intended to sting the U.S. economically. The package includes massive increases in the tariffs levied on U.S. imports to Europe, the recipient of about 20% of total American exports.
European leaders indicated that the response could also extend to stopping the export to the U.S. of goods that are much in demand on the North American side of the Atlantic.
Trump’s decision midday Wednesday to forego increases in the tariffs on European imports was the latest sharp turn the White House has taken in setting its international trade policies. The President first announced his intention to levy protective surcharges on imported goods on April 2. Since then, certain duties have been delayed, dropped, increased, reinstated, and riddled with exemptions for particular products or nations.