Farage says Trump’s tariffs threat ‘wrong’ and he will be ‘having words’ with US officials about it at Davos
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, is normally proud of his friendship with Donald Trump, and he rarely criticises him in public. But on Saturday, after Trump announced tariffs on eight Nato countries not supporting his proposed purchase of Greenland, Farage said he did not support the move, which he said would “hurt” the UK.
Today, speaking to journalists as he unveiled his latest defector (see 12.56pm), Farage said that Trump’s proposal was “wrong” and that he would be said he would be “having some words with the American administration” about it in Davos.
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Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has said that Keir Starmer’s response on Saturday to President Trump threatening to impose tariffs on Nato allies not supporting his Greenland plans was correct.
Starmer said:
Applying tariffs on allies for pursuing the collective security of NATO allies is completely wrong.
In an interview with Matt Chorley for Radio 5 Live, Farage said:
I felt the prime minister’s instinctive response, to say this was completely wrong, was actually the correct thing to say.
But let’s see how tough we can be. Let’s see how good a negotiator he is. Some of the evidence, when it comes to the EU reset and the Chagos deal, is our prime minister is not a born negotiator, and that would be my concern.
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Yvette Cooper has held talks with her Danish opposite number, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, at Carlton Gardens, her official residence as the foreign secretary.
As Sky News reports, she told him:
The future of Greenland is for the Greenlanders and for the Danes alone. Greenland is a part of the Kingdom of Denmark and those principles around sovereignty are crucial.
She also said it was “completely wrong and counter-productive” for President Trump to threaten allies with tariffs to get them to support his plan to purchase Greenland.
The visit was arranged before the Trump tariffs were announced on Saturday.
Yvette Cooper and Danish foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen in Carlton Gardens. Photograph: Jack Taylor/ReutersShare
In the Commons Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, is taking questions.
After the government cancelled the debate on the Hillsborough law planned for this evening (see 11.30am), there was time to fill in the schedule today. With that in mind, the speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, has granted four urgent questions. And there will be two ministerial statements too.
Here is the list, with rough timings.
After 3.30pm: A Treasury minister answers an urgent question from Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, on business rates.
Around 4.15pm: A Foreign Office ministers answers an urgent question from Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, on Iran.
Around 5pm: A local government minister answers an urgent question from James Cleverly, the shadow housing, communities and local government secretary, about local elections being cancelled.
Around 5.45pm: A Foreign Office minister answers an urgent question from the Labour MP Sarah Champion about the proposed Chinese “super-embassy” in London.
Around 6.30pm: Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, makes a statement about Donald Trump’s tariffs threat relating to Greenland.
Around 7.30pm: Alex Davies-Jones, the victims minister, makes a statement about the Hillsborough law.
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Mandelson says European leaders should follow Starmer in talking down prospects of trade war with US
Peter Mandelson, the former ambassador to the US, has said that European leaders should adopt the non-confrontational tone favoured by Keir Starmer in their response to Donald Trump’s threat to impose new tariffs until he is allowed to buy Greenland.
In an interview with the World at One, Mandelson said:
This is not a moment for grandstanding. It’s a moment for taking the heat out of the situation. It’s a time for sensible diplomacy and dealmaking.
And that’s why I think that there are some in Europe who could do worse than take a cue from our own prime minister this morning, who I thought was pitch perfect, not just in saying the trade war is in absolutely nobody’s interest – and he’s right on that – but also that it’s better to talk and discuss than indulge in rhetoric and commentary and gestures.
Mandelson was particularly critical of the French government, accusing them of grandstanding. But he also hit out at Bronwen Maddox, director of the foreign policy thinktank Chatham House, saying that in a speech last week she had argued for jettisoning the US alliance. That idea was “self-indulgent nonsense”, he said.
He said the UK needed to preserve its alliances with the US and Europe.
Asked if he thought Trump would end up getting control over Greenland, Mandelson said he thought there was “a deal to be made”. But he said that was “not the same as having a shakedown imposed on us by means of duress and threats”, which would be “completely unacceptable”.
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The latest edition of the Guardian’s Politics Weekly podcast is out. It features Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey talking about Keir Starmer’s press conference this morning.
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Reeves pulls out of event celebrating City as stock markets fall following Trump tariff threats
This morning Rachel Reeves pulled out of an event at the London Stock Exchange, marking a “new golden age” for the City, as concerns about Donald Trump’s fresh tariff threats sent global markets tumbling. As PA Media reports, stock markets in the UK, France and Germany were down sharply on Monday morning, while gold prices rose to hit a fresh record high.
Lauren Almeida has more on this on our business live blog.
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Farage says Trump’s tariffs threat ‘wrong’ and he will be ‘having words’ with US officials about it at Davos
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, is normally proud of his friendship with Donald Trump, and he rarely criticises him in public. But on Saturday, after Trump announced tariffs on eight Nato countries not supporting his proposed purchase of Greenland, Farage said he did not support the move, which he said would “hurt” the UK.
Today, speaking to journalists as he unveiled his latest defector (see 12.56pm), Farage said that Trump’s proposal was “wrong” and that he would be said he would be “having some words with the American administration” about it in Davos.
ShareNigel Farage (left) posing for pictures with Andrew Rosindell, who has defected to Reform UK from the Tories, outside parliament this morning. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PAShare
John Swinney, Scotland’s first minister, has described Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on European countries that do not back his call for a US takeover of Greenland as “deeply damaging”. Swinney told PA Media:
The announcements made by President Trump over the weekend are deeply damaging and they are the wrong thing to do.
They have the risk of undermining the economy of Scotland and the United Kingdom because of the scale of the tariffs but they also risk undermining the security and the safety of the Nato alliance because of the steps, and the approach, that have been taken in relation to Greenland.
So, at an economic level, and at a security level, this approach being taken by President Trump is wrong and should not be pursued.
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How Starmer declined to back Ed Davey’s call for king’s visit to US to be cancelled if Trump implements tariffs threat
And this is what Keir Starmer said at his press conference (see 9.49am) about not wanting to call off King Charles’s state visit to the US in retaliation over the Greenland tariffs. Starmer said:
In relation to the king and other issues, as I said in my speech I’m focused on the pragmatic response here, not the suggestion of others.
And my focus is on what’s in the national interest for our country, what is going to best protect workers, families, businesses, and I believe that’s the approach I’ve set out.
Yesterday Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, called for the state visit to be cancelled if the Trump tariffs go ahead. But Davey did not repeat the proposal in the statement he issued this morning. (See 9am.)
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What Starmer said about UK’s nuclear deterrent being dependent on ‘good relationship with US’
In his response to a question from ITV’s Robert Peston at the press conference this morning (see 9.40am and 11.20am), Keir Starmer admitted that the effectiveness of Britain’s nuclear deterrent depended on having a good relationship with the US. He said:
I don’t want to lose sight of the central goal here, which is to avoid the seriousness that a trade war would bring.
In relation to your broader point, we do have to remember at all times that it is in our national interest that we continue to work with the Americans when it comes to defence, to security, and to intelligence.
Our nuclear deterrent is our foremost weapon, and deterrent, when it comes to, securing the safety of everybody in the United Kingdom, my primary duty.
And that requires us to have a good relationship with the United States.
But it doesn’t mean, as I said a moment ago, that we pretend we don’t have differences, We do have differences. And I’ve set out some of those differences here this morning in relation to Greenland.
In theory, the UK’s nuclear deterrent – which relies on one of the UK’s four Trident submarines always being at sea, undetected, ready to fire nuclear missiles at an enemy – is operationally independent. But the missiles (though not the warheads) are provided by the US, which also services them, which is what Starmer was referring to when he said the entire system depended on a good relationship with Washington.
This post was amended at 12.18 GMT to refer correctly to the UK’s Trident nuclear deterrent, not its predecessor, “Polaris”.
Keir Starmer at his press conference today. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/EPAShare
Updated at 08.20 EST
