Trump Tariffs Eight Allies as Greenland Pursuit Roils Markets

Bitcoin fell about 3.6% in early trading today, sliding from around $95,400 at 11pm UTC on Sunday to a low of slightly under $92,000 just one hour later. The sell-off followed a weekend announcement in which Trump vowed to impose a 10% tariff on goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Finland.

According to The Guardian, the 10% levy is set to take effect on 1 Feb 2026 and will increase to 25% on 1 Jun 2026 if a "complete and total purchase" of Greenland is not secured. European leaders have denounced the move as economic blackmail. 

French President Emmanuel Macron stated that "no amount of intimidation" would change the course of European nations, while UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the threat "completely wrong." The move has already stalled the ratification of the US-EU trade pact that was negotiated last year, with the European Parliament expected to freeze approval this week.

Market volatility and the risk-off pivot

The threat of a transatlantic trade war has triggered a classic flight to safety. While crypto assets faced heavy selling pressure, spot gold and silver reached all-time highs on Monday morning. 

Gold surged to as much as $4,690 per ounce as investors exited riskier positions in anticipation of retaliatory measures from Brussels. The offshore yuan and several European currencies faced initial pressure, although the US dollar later weakened as analysts weighed the long-term impact of heightened policy uncertainty.

The liquidation data reflects a brutal start to the week for leveraged traders. Coinank data shows that the sharp dip in Bitcoin triggered approximately $609mn in liquidations across the market, the majority of which were long positions. The Greenland dispute has added a significant political risk premium to US assets, most likely leading some institutional funds to reduce their exposure.

Geopolitical fallout and European retaliation

The diplomatic consequences of the tariff announcement are immediate and severe. EU ambassadors held an emergency session in Brussels on Sunday to discuss a unified response. 

Sources cited by Reuters indicate that the bloc is considering reactivating a €93bn ($108bn) package of counter-tariffs on US goods. The EU may also invoke its anti-coercion instrument, a legal framework that allows for wide-ranging economic sanctions against states that attempt to pressure the bloc through economic means.

Greenland has shed its status as a diplomatic footnote to become the primary wedge in the fracturing transatlantic trade alliance. Trump argued that acquiring the territory is essential for US national security and to counter Russian and Chinese influence in the Arctic. 

However, the decision to tie trade levies to a sovereignty dispute has fractured NATO unity. For crypto investors, the takeaway is clear: the macro environment has shifted from deregulation optimism to a period of unpredictable protectionism that favours hard assets over digital ones in the short term.

At 0800 UTC, Bitcoin was trading at around $92,700, while Ether was around $3,200.