UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer told U.S. President Donald Trump during an afternoon call on January 18, 2026, that applying tariffs on NATO allies for pursuing collective security in the High North, including Greenland, is wrong, according to an X post by PolitlcsUK between 7:17 p.m. and 7:46 p.m. UTC. Starmer spoke first with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte before the Trump call, reiterating that security in the High North is a priority for all NATO allies to protect Euro-Atlantic interests, as stated in the Downing Street readout cited by PolitlcsUK. A separate X post in the same 29-minute window cited Danish newspaper Berlingske reporting that a Danish military internal document revealed U.S. military officials sought information via unofficial channels on key Greenland military facilities, airfields, and ports useful for an invasion, according to GorillaOSINT quoting the January 2025 article. These developments follow reports earlier on January 18 of troops from France, Norway, the UK, and Sweden conducting military exercises in Greenland, as cited by the Danish armed forces Forsvaret.
