Starmer to address Trump’s Greenland threats in No 10 press conference – UK politics live

<p>PM to speak to reporters this morning amid crisis over the territory and US president’s tariff threats to those who oppose him</p><p>Yesterday <strong>Keir Starmer</strong> spoke about the Greenland crisis to Donald Trump, the US president, Mette Frederiksen, the Danish PM, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, and Mark Rutte, the Nato secretary general, in separate phone calls.</p><p>This is what Downing Street said in a readbout covering all four calls.</p><p>The prime minister had a number of calls with leaders this afternoon …</p><p>In all his calls, the prime minister reiterated his position on Greenland. He said that security in the High North is a priority for all Nato allies in order to protect Euro-Atlantic interests.</p><p>Keir Starmer, his fate increasingly tied with Europe, has not yet said if the UK will retaliate, but the benefits of Brexit are rapidly evaporating. His trade agreement with the US, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/may/08/trump-and-starmer-confirm-breakthrough-us-uk-trade-deal">announced with fanfare last year</a>, has not yet been signed. The indefinite postponement risks weakening his position in the Labour party. He has rebuffed those who argue for the UK to join the EU customs union, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jan/04/starmer-says-closer-ties-eu-single-market-preferable-customs-union">by saying it would be impossible</a> as it would undermine the UK trade deal with the US. With no trade deal, and an extra 10% blanket tariffs on UK imports, that argument looks threadbare.</p><p>Moreover in the wider – and perennial – Churchillian choice for the UK between the values of the open sea, represented by the US, and those of Europe, the case for the open sea has been dealt yet another blow. When Bronwen Maddox, the director of Chatham House, the voice of the UK foreign policy elite, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jan/13/end-of-western-alliance-trump-uk-chatham-house-director">declared last week that the western alliance was over</a>, one can be sure similar views are being expressed privately in the UK Foreign Office.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/jan/19/keir-starmer-greenland-tariffs-donald-trump-uk-politics-latest-news-updates">Continue reading...</a>

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