Pickthall House commends the stances taken yesterday by Sir Keir Starmer in his address on Greenland, and by President Macron and Prime Minister Carney at DAVOS on NATO, tariffs and the rules-based order.

Pickthall House notes with concern the heightened threats made by the Trump administration towards its long-term allies in NATO, including the levying of 10% tariffs on the UK, France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Netherlands, with the threat to increase these to 25% by the summer if negotiations fail.

Pickthall House continues to advocate for greater British and European strategic independence from America. The current use of financial threats and manipulation, including the suggestion of a 200% tariff against French wines suggested yesterday, only reinforce the necessity of this position.

Sir Keir Starmer’s clear position on Danish and Greenlandic sovereignty and independence from foreign interference is necessary and appreciated. As Starmer noted, “Using tariffs as a weapon against NATO partners is completely wrong. It undermines the rules-based order we have spent generations building together.”

While Sir Keir Starmer’s announcement that “the United Kingdom will not impose retaliatory tariffs on the United States” is prudent to avoid a trade war costly for all, the response by President Macron provides a necessary harder line on American threats. France has reportedly refused to join President Trump’s “Board of Peace” established last week which bypasses and undermines the UN. Yesterday, President Macron clearly rejected “these unacceptable tariffs that punish countries simply for defending sovereignty and international law”.

Most strikingly, Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney, stated that “the post-World War II US-led rules-based international order is unravelling. This is a rupture not a transition.” Prime Minister Carney correctly observed that now “middle powers must work together to defend core principles: sovereignty, human rights, collective security; when they are tested, whether in the Arctic or elsewhere.”

Pickthall House hopes that the UK, as a middle power itself, will continue to recognise the need for strategic independence from the US and will continue to work closely with its allies to preserve British and European collective security.

Pickthall House agrees that President Trump’s actions against Denmark and the US’ other European allies are opportunistic and have pushed the cynical facade of the rules-based order to its logical end point. There is a real threat that the collapse of the rules-based order will put the sovereignty of middle powers such as the UK, France and Germany, with long-term economic, military and cultural ties and interdependency with the US at risk.

Lastly, Pickthall House calls on the British government and its European allies to further strategic cooperation to reduce this dependency on the US, and to continue to prioritise national self-sufficiency, particularly as regarding defence, security and energy sectors. If done successfully, this pivot should also satisfy the anti-internationalist, populist backlash that can be seen politically across the western world – a movement in many cases demonstrably supported by foreign powers such as Russia to undermine solidarity and provoke instability and conflict.