{"id":708863,"date":"2026-01-20T15:16:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T15:16:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/708863\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T15:16:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T15:16:24","slug":"michelle-oneill-deeply-concerned-by-trump-tariffs-threat-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/708863\/","title":{"rendered":"Michelle O’Neill ‘deeply concerned’ by Trump tariffs threat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jayne McCormackand<\/p>\n

Enda McClafferty,BBC News NI<\/p>\n

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

President Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on countries who oppose his plan to takeover Greenland<\/p>\n

First Minister Michelle O’Neill has said she is “deeply concerned” about the potential impact of Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on countries opposing his proposed takeover of Greenland.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the United States president said he would impose 10% tariffs on the UK and a host of other European countries which opposed his plan.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer described Trump’s threat tariffs on Europe as “very serious” and “completely wrong”.<\/p>\n

O’Neill has accused the Trump administration of breaching international law in an “attempt to snatch territory”.<\/p>\n

“We are all aghast at developments,” she told the Northern Ireland Assembly on Monday.<\/p>\n

“This is an attempt to bully others to kowtow to a position in the US and it is frankly shocking.”<\/p>\n

On the prospect of new tariffs, O’Neill said: “We have a special and unique circumstance in the post-Brexit world and what happens across the EU, in Britain and elsewhere has a real impact for us and we need to stand firmly against what is being proposed.<\/p>\n

“Trade wars are a race to the bottom and we want to ensure our unique circumstances are taken into account when it comes to deciding what happens next.”<\/p>\n

\"PAPA Media<\/p>\n

Michelle O’Neill said she was “aghast at developments”<\/p>\n

As part of the post-Brexit trading arrangements, Northern Ireland is part of the UK’s customs territory and its exports are covered by the UK’s trade agreements.<\/p>\n

Therefore, exports from Northern Ireland are subject to the tariffs imposed on the UK by the US or any other country.<\/p>\n

However, Northern Ireland is also effectively part of the European Union’s single market for goods and enforces EU customs rules at its ports.<\/p>\n

That arrangement, called the Windsor Framework<\/a>, was agreed by the UK and EU as a way of maintaining an open trade border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland after Brexit.<\/p>\n

\"Caoimhe<\/p>\n

Caoimhe Archibald is concerned that any differences in British and EU responses might affect Northern Ireland negatively.<\/p>\n

Northern Ireland Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald also confirmed that she has raised concerns with the British and Irish governments over the weekend about the impact of any fresh tariff hikes.<\/p>\n

She has also held talks with businesses who may be impacted by any new tariffs.<\/p>\n

‘Cycle of Drama’<\/p>\n

Democratic Unionist Party leader Gavin Robinson said he did not believe the threat of further tariffs would come to pass, saying global politics was going through a “cycle of drama”.<\/p>\n

“I don’t see any benefit in threatening allies on a tariffs basis because of an aspiration the president of the United States has,” he said.<\/p>\n

“He [Trump] clearly has a quest, he is engaging with our nation and others… and I suspect in a number of months if not less you’ll be asking the question – what was all that about?”<\/p>\n

Greenland is a self-governing territory of Denmark and as such is a member of Nato.<\/p>\n

Ulster Unionist Party peer Lord Empey said the economic effect of tariffs on such a scale could only be negative.<\/p>\n

The former party leader also criticised President Trump’s stance on Greenland.<\/p>\n

“To treat the Kingdom of Denmark, one of the US’s staunch allies in this way, is impossible to justify,” Lord Empey said.<\/p>\n

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

Sir Keir Starmer says the dispute needs “calm discussion”<\/p>\n

Trump raised the possibility of purchasing Greenland in his first term and has now made it clear that its acquisition is a top administration priority, with tariff threats putting pressure on other Nato countries who have shown their support for Denmark. <\/p>\n

Speaking on Monday, Sir Keir said the use of tariffs against allies was “completely wrong” and “not the right way to resolve differences within an alliance”.<\/p>\n

He says such actions would hurt British workers, business and the British economy.<\/p>\n

“That’s why I’ve been so clear on this issue,” he added.<\/p>\n

The prime minister also appeared to rule out retaliatory tariffs on US goods, saying a “tariff war is in nobody’s interests”.<\/p>\n

He said he did not think Trump would take military action in Greenland, and the dispute should be resolved through “calm discussion between allies”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jayne McCormackand Enda McClafferty,BBC News NI Getty Images President Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on countries who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":708864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-708863","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115928091104391300","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=708863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/708864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=708863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=708863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=708863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}