President-elect Donald Trump’s risk to slap Denmark with tariffs to pressure its hand in giving up Greenland may result in larger costs for common weight-loss medicine Ozempic and Wegovy in addition to Lego toys, in line with a report.
On Monday, Trump mentioned he would “tariff Denmark at a really excessive stage” if it didn’t permit Greenland – the ice-covered autonomous territory owned by the Kingdom of Denmark – to affix the USA.
“They need to give it [Greenland] up, as a result of we’d like it for nationwide safety,” Trump mentioned.
The tiny Scandinavian nation — Denmark’s complete nation’s inhabitants is smaller than that of New York Metropolis — just isn’t a significant buying and selling accomplice, sending nearly $11 billion in items to the US in 2023 out of $3 trillion price of imports.
However the items Denmark sends to the US – together with Legos, Ozempic and Wegovy, listening to aids and different medicines – are fascinating and will get an entire lot costlier if Trump follows by way of on his tariff promise, in line with The New York Occasions.
About half of Denmark’s current exports to the US are medicines, insulin, vaccines and antibiotics, in line with the Observatory of Financial Complexity, a commerce information platform.
The nation is dwelling to Novo Nordisk – the agency behind Ozempic and Wegovy.
Novo Nordisk has been ramping up its US manufacturing to fulfill the hovering demand for the medicine – however hefty tariffs may spike costs.
“We’ll comply with the scenario intently; nonetheless, we won’t touch upon hypotheticals and speculations,” a Novo Nordisk spokesperson advised The Publish.
Denmark can be the main provider of listening to aids to the USA, in addition to a significant provider of medical devices, fish fillets, pig meat, coal tar oil, petroleum and baked items, in line with the OEC.
The nation can be dwelling to the Lego Group – the world’s largest toymaker. It’s a privately-held firm, however was valued at round $13 billion in 2023, in line with Statista.
It’s unclear how a lot Lego exports from Denmark to the US, because it additionally operates a manufacturing facility in Mexico, one other in Virginia and services in Hungary, the Czech Republic, China and Vietnam.
However Lego’s costs may nonetheless be hit laborious, since Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on items from Mexico, China and Canada, as effectively.
Lego and Trump’s crew didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
Throughout a press convention earlier this week, Trump argued that getting Greenland was a nationwide safety concern due to its location between the US, Russia and Europe. Melting ice close to Greenland has opened up new routes for Russian and Chinese language ships to sail by way of.
“We want Greenland for nationwide safety functions,” Trump mentioned Tuesday. “I’m speaking about defending the free world. You have a look at — you don’t even want binoculars — you look outdoors. You might have China ships far and wide. You might have Russian ships far and wide. We’re not letting that occur.”
In a Fb publish, Greenland’s prime minister Múte Egede responded that “Greenland belongs to the individuals of Greenland.”
“Our future and combat for independence is our enterprise,” the prime minister added.
Throughout Tuesday’s press convention, Trump doubled down on his promise to hit Mexico and Canada with “very severe tariffs.” He additionally proposed renaming the Gulf of Mexico to “the Gulf of America.”