If borders become negotiable under tariff pressure, risks rise, investment falls, and fragile global norms further fracture.
President Donald Trump’s renewed push to acquire Greenland is now framed not as a novelty or negotiating stunt, but as a foreign policy and national security imperative. Administration officials argue that Greenland’s Arctic location, proximity to emerging shipping lanes, and potential role in countering Russian and Chinese influence make US control strategically essential.
That framing has now been paired with explicit economic pressure: in a recent social media post on Saturday, January 17, 2026, Mr. Trump announced that Denmark — the sovereign power over Greenland — will face a 10 percent tariff on all goods exported to the United States beginning February 1, with the rate rising to 25 percent on June 1 if Denmark does not agree to a “Complete and Total purchase of Greenland.” He further stated that Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, Britain, the Netherlands, and Finland — NATO allies that have expressed solidarity with Denmark — will be subjected to the same escalating tariffs unless they relent.
Even granting the strategic premise, the proposal collapses under basic economic reasoning. The problem is not subtle. It lies in valuation, incentives, and the institutional foundations that make both markets and geopolitics workable.Valuation, Optionality, and ContradictionsValuation, Optionality, and Contradictions
The Symmetry TestThe Symmetry Test
Tariffs as Coercion: A Misuse of Trade PolicyTariffs as Coercion: A Misuse of Trade Policy
The Cost of Norm ErosionThe Cost of Norm Erosion
People Are Not Balance-Sheet ItemsPeople Are Not Balance-Sheet Items
...read more at thedailyeconomy.org
pull down to refresh
related posts
Trump is not respecting the ideology of post WW2 democratic norms. That said, this is a world order that isn't really all that old. What is happening here is probably less historically odd than modernity would like to admit.
I'm not appalled by Trump any more than I am about the world order that he is opposing. NATO should have been disbanded after the fall of the USSR. It is now following Jerry Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy. Tyranny comes in many forms.
I swear, many act like the Panama Papers, Wikileaks, and Snowden never happened. Like we don't know how often and consistently power has been abused for the last century. Is Trump a strong man that is using his power to reshape the world? Yep. He is. Now what?
He rose to power due to the frustration of a significant number of people with the status quo. Most that oppose him actually seem to hate Trump's supporters. Oh, if it were so simple as to pin all this on one man. Its not. Trump will die and our problems will remain.