AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
President Trump is back to using one of his favorite tools in an attempt to get what he wants. Yesterday, ahead of his trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump announced additional tariffs on eight NATO members resisting his plans to acquire Greenland. Joining me now is NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram. Good morning, Deepa.
DEEPA SHIVARAM, BYLINE: Good morning, Ayesha.
RASCOE: So tell us more about these new tariffs.
SHIVARAM: Yeah. So this is something the president floated Friday for the first time. I was actually at the White House when he said it during this event on rural health care. It was not related to Greenland at all, but he was talking about how he's used tariffs in the past to pressure other countries to work with his agenda. And then he said this.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I may put a tariff on countries if they don't go along with Greenland 'cause we need Greenland for national security. So I may do that.
SHIVARAM: It was the first time he had said that, and then less than 24 hours later, he elaborated. In a post to social media yesterday, Trump said that Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland - which are all NATO allies, I will add - they will face new tariffs on goods sent to the U.S. And Trump says it would start at 10% starting next month, and then increase to 25% in June unless a deal is reached for the U.S. to purchase Greenland.
Now, Trump's rhetoric on Greenland was already complicating relationships with European allies, and his tariff announcement is, as you can imagine, causing more tension. And it's happening ahead of Davos, like you said, where Trump is probably going to see the leaders of some of these EU nations and European nations. So, you know, in response, the Danish foreign minister said the tariff announcement came as a surprise, and ambassadors from EU nations are convening today in Brussels for an emergency meeting to respond to this.
RASCOE: Does this reach for tariffs mean that Trump is less inclined to use military force, like he's threatened?
SHIVARAM: Yeah. I would say it's a little unclear at this point. And just for context, I mean, this conversation has been going on for months now. Like, early on last year is when the president, you know, started bringing this issue up. It's been ongoing. What the president keeps saying is that the U.S. needs Greenland for national security reasons. He says if the U.S. doesn't take this territory, then China or Russia might, and that would give them the advantage. But Denmark, which is a nation in NATO - again, a really critical alliance - has control of Greenland, and they say they have no intention of giving it up. Leaders in Greenland have said they have no interest in being controlled by the U.S.
It just seems like at this point, no matter how much officials in these areas - Greenland, Denmark, other countries - emphasize that the U.S. taking Greenland, whether it's purchasing it or by military force - they say it's unacceptable, and Trump just doesn't seem to want to hear that. And in the meantime, you know, things are tense. European countries, including France and Germany and Sweden, have sent over military units to Greenland to help boost security there.
RASCOE: What are we expecting to hear from the president at this economic forum?
SHIVARAM: Well, Trump has said in the last few weeks that he intends to announce his plan for more affordable housing while he's at Davos. He says he wants to lower home prices by getting private equity groups out of the housing market, but the rest of the specifics around that plan have not yet been released. And that announcement comes, Ayesha, as Trump is trying to tackle other topics around affordability. Remember, it is an election year. Midterms are coming, and the economy remains very top of mind for voters. Last month, there was a lot - a number of polls showing that Trump's rating on his handling of the economy have been really low. So he's trying to talk about saving costs.
And in addition to talking about housing this coming week, he's also recently announced other plans. Last week, his health care plan was released. It's more of a broad framework, but he says it will reform things like drug pricing. I will say, though, there are criticisms around that plan - like I said, that it's too broad and that it doesn't do anything to address higher health insurance premiums that a lot of people are paying after Congress denied to extend a provision that would have kept those costs lower. So still some issues to tackle there.
RASCOE: OK. So finally, stateside, it looks like President Trump may be moving away from his threat to use the Insurrection Act against Minneapolis, where an immigration crackdown has been met with sustained protest. Is it that Trump is focused elsewhere, or are there worries within the administration around public blowback?
SHIVARAM: Yeah. I mean, look. On Friday, the president said he didn't think he needed to use the Insurrection Act, but I will note that he also said, you know, if he needed it, he would use it. So it's sort of that space where it's possible he's backing down on it. At the same time, it's not clear that he's, you know, ruled it out. But it is interesting to keep in mind that it's something that Trump keeps talking about. The last time a president invoked the Insurrection Act was back in the LA riots in the '90s. I will note, though, several news organizations are reporting that about 1,500 U.S. active-duty troops have been ordered to prepare for a possible deployment to Minnesota. NPR, though, has not independently confirmed those reports.
RASCOE: That's NPR's White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram. Thank you so much.
SHIVARAM: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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