President Donald Trump gestures and speaks during the Great Historic Investments in Rural Health Roundtable in the East Room of the White House on January 16, 2026.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images
President Donald Trump said Friday that he could impose tariffs on countries “if we don’t make a deal with Greenland.”
“We need Greenland for our national security, so we might do that,” Trump said during a medical event at the White House.
These comments indicate that President Trump has become increasingly aggressive in recent months in seeking to acquire Greenland for the United States, turning to one of his favorite tools for leveraging power over foreign countries.
The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for additional information about Trump’s remarks.
The Trump administration has previously said it was considering multiple options to seize Danish territory, including using the U.S. military.
President Trump has argued that national security concerns posed by China and Russia make it imperative for the United States to own Greenland, even though the United States already maintains military bases there.
The White House also said the United States is considering a proposal to buy the Arctic island. But Greenland and Denmark have repeatedly said the territory is not for sale and has no intention of being absorbed into the United States.
President Trump’s suggestion that he may use tariffs to get his way on Greenland comes after he described a similar strategy to force foreign countries to raise drug prices.
President Trump is pushing to lower U.S. drug prices by mandating that domestic prices match lower prices paid overseas.
At a White House event on Friday, President Trump said he had threatened leaders of several countries with heavy tariffs on all imports into the United States if they did not raise the prices of medicines as part of a “most-favored-nation” agreement.
“We might do that with Greenland, too. We might impose tariffs on countries that don’t agree with Greenland, because we need Greenland for our national security,” Trump said.
Delegates from Greenland and Denmark said they had “fundamental differences” with President Trump after meeting with Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Thursday.
Since taking office, President Trump has significantly expanded the government’s use of tariffs, raising the overall average tariff rate to an estimated 17%.
Many of his most far-reaching levies were invoked using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The regime’s application of the law has been repeatedly challenged, and multiple courts have ruled the practice illegal.
The dispute has reached the Supreme Court, which may soon rule on the legality of President Trump’s IEEPA tariffs.
Trump argued that his policies would be unraveled if the high court ruled against him.
“I hope we win at the Supreme Court, because if we don’t, it will be a disgrace to our country,” he said Friday.
