LONDON

The leader of Britain’s opposition Liberal Democrats said the UK should be prepared to take strong action against US President Donald Trump if Greenland were to come under attack, including sanctioning his businesses and reconsidering the presence of US forces on British soil.

Ed Davey wrote on US social media company X: “It’s time we started taking Trump’s threats seriously. God forbid if Greenland is attacked, the UK should immediately sanction the Trump Organization and think twice about whether we want US forces on our soil at all.”

The comments by Davey – whose Lib Dems are the UK’s third-largest political party – come amid renewed uproar over Trump’s repeated vows to acquire Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, a NATO ally of both Britain and the US.

On Friday, the leaders of Greenland’s political parties reiterated their opposition to joining the US, saying: “We do not want to be Americans, we do not want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders.”

Speaking on Friday, Trump said: “We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not, because if we don’t do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland, and we’re not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor.”

He added, again refusing to rule out a military option: “I would like to make a deal the easy way, but if we don’t do it the easy way, we will do it the hard way.”

Trump's comments have drawn widespread condemnation, with European countries in particular warning that the move could mean the end of NATO.