The public are split between a diplomatic and an economic response
Key takeaways
- 33% think European response to a Greenland seizure should be purely diplomatic, 30% say there should be economic retaliation
- Fewer support a military retaliation (14%) or simply accepting US control of Greenland (5%)
- Tories and Reform voters tend to favour diplomatic approach, Labour and Lib Dems more likely to opt for economic reaction
In the latest move in the spat over Greenland territorial sovereignty, Donald Trump has now threated to impose tariffs on European countries – including the UK – that have objected to his attempts to acquire the territory.
The US president has said that he will not rule out using the military in order to gain control of Greenland, with several European countries having sent a collective handful of soldiers to the island in an attempt to deter such an outcome.
But if Trump follows through on his promises to take Greenland, and does so using force, how do Britons think Europe should response?
In this worst-case scenario, only 5% of Britons believe we should just accept US control over Greenland and consider the matter settled.
Instead, the largest portion of the British public are divided between two options: a third (33%) would want to attempt to convince the US through diplomatic means to leave Greenland, while 30% would go further and impose economic retaliations upon the US.
A further 14% endorse attempting to retake the island from the US using military force.
Tory and Reform voters tend to favour the diplomacy-only approach, at 46% and 37% respectively, while the economic retaliation option is the most favoured among Labour and Lib Dem voters (40-44%). Green voters are the most closely divided, with 32% backing the diplomatic angle, 28% the economic variant, and 26% the military reaction.
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