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Thousands of people had said on social media they would to take part in marches and rallies organised by Greenlandic associations in Copenhagen, and in Aarhus, Aalborg, Odense and the Greenlandic capital Nuuk.

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida — President Donald Trump said Saturday he would charge a 10% import tax starting in February on goods from eight European nations because of their opposition to American control of Greenland.

Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland would face the tariff, Trump said in a social media post while at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida. The rate would climb to 25% on June 1 if no deal was in place for "the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland" by the United States, he said.

The Republican president appeared to indicate that he'd use the tariffs as leverage to force talks with Denmark and other European countries over the status of Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark.

The tariff threat could mark a rupture between Trump and America's longtime NATO partners, further straining an alliance that dates to 1949 and provides a collective degree of security to Europe and North America.

Trump is scheduled to travel Tuesday to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he likely will run into the European leaders he just threatened with tariffs.

People march Saturday during a pro- Greenlanders demonstration in Copenhagen, Denmark.

There are immediate questions about how the White House could try to implement the threatened tariffs because the European Union is a single economic zone in terms of trading, according to a European diplomat who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

It was unclear, too, how Trump could act under U.S. law, though he could cite emergency economic powers that are subject to a U.S. Supreme Court challenge.

Trump long said he thinks the U.S. should own the strategically located and mineral-rich island, which has a population of about 57,000. He intensified his calls a day after a U.S. military operation ousted Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro this month.

The president indicated the tariffs were retaliation for what appeared to be the deployment of symbolic levels of troops from the European countries to Greenland, which he said was essential for the "Golden Dome" missile defense system for the U.S. He also argued that Russia and China might try to take over the island.

The U.S. already has access to Greenland under a 1951 defense agreement. Since 1945, the American military presence in Greenland decreased from thousands of soldiers over 17 bases and installations to 200 at the remote Pituffik Space Base in the northwest of the island, the Danish foreign minister said. That base supports missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance operations for the U.S. and NATO.

Resistance steadily built in Europe to Trump's ambitions even as several countries on the continent agreed to his 15% tariffs last year in order to preserve an economic and security relationship with Washington.

People gather Saturday for a pro- Greenlanders demonstration in Copenhagen, Denmark.

'Important for the whole world'

Earlier Saturday, hundreds of people in Greenland's capital, Nuuk, braved near-freezing temperatures, rain and icy streets to march in a rally in support of their own self-governance.

Tillie Martinussen, a former member of Greenland's parliament, said the push to preserve NATO and Greenland's autonomy were more important than facing tariffs, though she added that she was not dismissing the potential economic impact.

"This is a fight for freedom," she said. "It's for NATO, it's for everything the Western Hemisphere has been fighting for since World War II."

Thousands of people also marched through Copenhagen, many of them carrying Greenland's flag. Some held signs with slogans such as "Make America Smart Again" and "Hands Off."

"This is important for the whole world," Danish protester Elise Riechie said as she held Danish and Greenlandic flags. "There are many small countries. None of them are for sale."

The rallies occurred hours after a bipartisan delegation of U.S. lawmakers, while visiting Copenhagen, sought to reassure Denmark and Greenland of their support.

Major General Søren Andersen, Danish commander of the Joint Arctic Command, speaks Saturday during an interview on the military vessel HDMS Knud Rasmussen of the Royal Danish Navy docked in Nuuk, Greenland.

NATO training exercises

Danish Maj. Gen. Søren Andersen, leader of the Joint Arctic Command, said Denmark does not expect the U.S. military to attack Greenland, or any other NATO ally, and European troops were deployed to Nuuk for Arctic defense training.

He said the goal is not to send a message to the Trump administration, though the White House has not ruled out taking the territory by force.

"I will not go into the political part, but I will say that I would never expect a NATO country to attack another NATO country," he said from aboard a Danish military vessel docked in Nuuk. "For us, for me, it's not about signaling. It is actually about training military units, working together with allies."

A Danish service members climbs out of a hatch Saturday on the bow of the military vessel HDMS Knud Rasmussen of the Royal Danish Navy docked in Nuuk, Greenland.

The Danish military organized a planning meeting Friday in Greenland with NATO allies, including the U.S., to discuss Arctic security on the alliance's northern flank in the face of a potential Russian threat. The Americans also were invited to participate in Operation Arctic Endurance in Greenland in the coming days, Andersen said.

In his 2½ years as a commander in Greenland, Andersen said he hasn't seen any Chinese or Russian combat vessels or warships, despite Trump saying they were off the island's coast.

In the unlikely event of U.S. troops using force on Danish soil, Andersen confirmed that Danish soldiers have an obligation to fight back.

President Donald Trump’s pursuit of Greenland is creating a rift between the US and other NATO allies, fracturing the alliance and “playing straight into Russia’s hands,” said Jean-François Bélanger, assistant professor at the Institute for Military Operations at the Royal Danish Defence College.

On Wednesday, the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met in Washington with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

That encounter didn't resolve the deep differences, but did produce an agreement to set up a working group — on whose purpose Denmark and the White House then offered sharply diverging public views.

Senator Chris Coons from the Democratic Party speaks Saturday at a news conference with the American delegation, consisting of senators and members of the House of Representatives, in Copenhagen, Denmark.

"There is almost no better ally to the United States than Denmark," Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said while visiting Copenhagen with other members of Congress. "If we do things that cause Danes to question whether we can be counted on as a NATO ally, why would any other country seek to be our ally or believe in our representations?"

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