“I will not submit to Trump’s pressure on Greenland,” declares Starmer.

Sir Keir Starmer has said he will “not bow” to pressure from Donald Trump

over the future of Greenland, after the US President attacked the UK’s Chagos Islands deal.

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir said the US President had criticised the Chagos deal, having previously said he supported it “for the express purpose of putting pressure on me and the UK in relation to my values ​​and principles on the future of Greenland”.

On Tuesday, Trump described Britain’s agreement to cede the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and lease back a key military base as “an act of great stupidity”.

He has threatened to impose tariffs on European countries that oppose his demand to annex Greenland.

Sir Keir told MPs, “Greenland’s future belongs only to the people of Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark”—and he said he would host Danish Premier Mette Frederiksen in Downing Street on Thursday.

“President Trump’s remarks about Chagos yesterday were significantly different from his earlier words of welcome and support during our meeting at the White House,” Sir Keir stated.

He intentionally used those words yesterday to exert pressure on me and the UK regarding my values and principles concerning the future of Greenland.

The PM further said, “He wants me to step down from my position and I am not going to do that.”

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said she supports the PM’s position on Greenland but agrees with Trump over the “stupidity” of the Chagos Islands deal.

“We didn’t need President Trump to tell us this; we’ve been saying this for 12 months,” he told Sir Keir.

He urged the Prime Minister to “cancel this terrible deal and put the money into our armed forces.”

Later in the session, Labour MP Steve Witherden urged Sir Keir to “commit to strengthening ties with our European allies and imposing retaliatory tariffs” against the US on Greenland.

“The thug in the White House has shown he doesn’t listen to flattery or flattery,” he said.

“No matter how obedient we are, he will continue to harm British interests and, like all scoundrels, he will always find the weakest link.”

Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrat party, accused Trump of acting akin to a criminal operating a protection racket and urged the Prime Minister to unite with French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in firmly supporting the US president.

Trump has threatened to impose 10% tariffs on European countries, including Britain, starting February 1 unless they agree to purchase Greenland – but he has ruled out the use of military force to seize the territory.

The US president told an audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland: “Unless I decide to use extreme power and force, where we will, frankly, be invincible, we probably won’t get anything done. But I won’t do that. I don’t have to use force, I don’t want to use force, and I won’t use force.”

Chancellor Rachel Reeves stated in Davos that the threat of tariffs would not impress the UK.

The Chancellor said Britain has an economic plan that will “get us out of challenging times” and the trade deal with the US will remain intact.

Downing Street has refused to say whether the US no longer supports the UK’s Chagos Islands deal and told reporters that “our Five Eyes allies support it”, a reference to the intelligence-sharing alliance between the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States.

The UK signed a £3.4 billion ($4.6 billion) deal in May under which it will retain control of the UK-US military base on Diego Garcia, the largest island.

Ministers say the deal is necessary to provide a strong legal basis for the operation of the strategically important Diego Garcia facility.

But the law to finalise it is currently stuck in a tussle between the Lords and the Commons.

On Tuesday, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform: “Shockingly, our ‘fantastic’ NATO ally, the United Kingdom, is planning to give the island of Diego Garcia, currently the site of a vital US military base, to Mauritius, and doing so for no reason at all.

“There is no doubt that China and Russia have taken notice of this act of complete weakness.”

He highlighted this decision as the reason for his continued pursuit of Greenland, which is a semi-autonomous part of Denmark.

“The UK giving up vitally important land would be an act of utter folly and is just one more in a very long series of national security reasons why Greenland had to be acquired.”

Ahead of Trump’s arrival in Davos, US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant said at a press conference that Britain was “letting us down” on the Chagos deal.

“President Trump has stressed that we will not outsource our national security or our hemispheric security to any other country.

“Our partner, the UK, is giving us a base on Diego Garcia, which we shared together for many years, and they want to hand it over to Mauritius.”

He also said that there were “glitches” in the UK–US trade deal and that no further trade talks were scheduled between the two countries.