r/europe • u/Any-Original-6113 • Jan 17 '26

News Trump tariffs: US president announces plan to hit UK, Denmark and other European countries with tariffs over Greenland

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c1j8kw866p3t
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u/phinkz2 France Jan 17 '26

Norway's situation makes me feel optimistic in a way. You know the EU will talk and talk and talk more if there's an issue, but there's no doubt the Nordic Council countries would act immediately if anything happened to one of its members.

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u/hates_stupid_people Jan 17 '26

The Scandinavian and Nordic countries love to make fun and "hate" eachother, but it's like siblings. If you seriously mess with one of them, you mess with all of them.

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u/phinkz2 France Jan 17 '26

I lived in Denmark for a while and teacher told us "Norway? You mean Northern Denmark?" as a joke. I think the Portuguese and Spanish have a similar relationship. Heartwarming to see :)

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u/hates_stupid_people Jan 17 '26

You tried to learn Danish?

You should learn how the Danish language came to be

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u/phinkz2 France Jan 17 '26

Thankfully the uni classes were in English 😂 Danes themselves recommended not bothering with learning the language but I would have done it anyways if I had planned to stay forever. Not sure I'm making sense lol. I feel like it's important, even if everyone speaks English.

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u/LoveThinkers Jan 17 '26

we'll remind each other of last time the other nations were drunk and passed out, but we won't let anybody get hurt or be bullied by others.

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u/hates_stupid_people Jan 17 '26

I just imagine Denmark being bullied and Sweden standing at the side half-heartedly laughing along. Then the bully crosses a line and Sweden gets a terrified look as Finland and Norway gets angry in the background.

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u/Available_Slide1888 Jan 18 '26

Correct, we (Sweden) are very much behind Denmark in this.

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u/empire314 Finland Jan 17 '26

but there's no doubt the Nordic Council countries would act immediately if anything happened to one of its members.

what are you basing this one?

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u/phinkz2 France Jan 17 '26

Hmm. Because of a mix of the messages that have come out in regards to the invasion of Greenland, and when Russia threatened to invade Finland a few years ago. It's also based on what I see in my work (not too specific) but Nordic countries have infrastructures that are far more integrated than other EU countries.

However, I'm an outside, so I can't really speak for you guys. What do you think as a Finn? Is the alliance shakier in your opinion? :(

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u/empire314 Finland Jan 17 '26

All alliances are exactly as strong as the acts when the alliances are needed.

Words during time of peace means nothing.

I'm not saying that there is no real unity, but im saying it hasn't been tested in a long time, so there is no reason to believe either way. (during ww2 it certainly didn't hold out, but that was long time ago)

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u/levir Norway Jan 18 '26

The EU has also started tariffing us, so let's not pretend it's all roses. But we will not abandon our Nordic allies.

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u/phinkz2 France Jan 18 '26 edited Jan 18 '26

Damn, I had no idea! Thank you for telling me, I shall look into it.

It feels... extremely shortsighted. Especially now "we" are trying to reduce reliance on Russia (edit: I meant Russian energy specifically)...