U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened a new set of tariffs on eight European countries, potentially impacting the seafood industry and a prior trade deal with the European Union.
In a post on his social media site Truth Social, Trump threatened 10 percent tariffs on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the U.K., the Netherlands, and Finland starting 1 February over those countries’ decision to station personnel in Greenland. He added those tariffs will be increased to 25 percent on 1 June 2026 unless he receives a deal for the “Complete and Total purchase of Greenland.”
Of the eight countries named, Norway is by far the largest source of seafood sent to the U.S. In 2024, Norway sent USD 1.3 billion (EUR 1.1 billion) worth of seafood to the U.S. according to data from NOAA Fisheries, more than double the amount that the rest of the countries sent combined. The vast majority of those imports comes from farmed salmon, and in 2024 Norway sent 29,600 metric tons (MT) of fresh farmed Atlantic salmon fillets worth USD 472 million (EUR 405 million).
Norway is currently subject to a 15 percent “reciprocal” tariff that went into effect on 7 August 2025. The Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC) told SeafoodSource soon after the tariffs went into effect that it wasn’t planning to alter its seafood marketing strategies for the U.S. However, NSC CEO Christian Chramer said the tariffs created a “lot of noise and turmoil” for the countries seafood exports in the latter half of the year.
That turmoil showed in export statistics, with the first half of 2025 seeing exports to the U.S. from Norway steadily climb, before contracting in Q4 2025 as tariffs began to have an impact.
Outside Norway, the second-largest source of seafood in Trump’s new trade list is the Netherlands, which sent USD 300 million (EUR 257 million) worth of seafood to the U.S. in 2024 according to NOAA Fisheries data. It, like the other countries on Trump’s latest list aside from the U.K., is subject to a trade deal that Trump negotiated with the E.U. in July 2025 that set a base tariff rate of 15 percent on E.U. goods.
European leaders have condemned the latest threats by Trump, on the cusp of a vote at the European Parliament which would have ratified the E.U.-U.S. trade deal. BBC reported German Member of European Parliament Manfred Weber said that approval was “not possible” with Trump’s latest threats. If Parliament does not approve the deal, E.U. tariffs on U.S. goods will begin on 7 February.
The E.U. could also potentially use the “nuclear option” on trade with the U.S. The E.U. has what is known as the Anti-Coercion Instrument, which allows the country to respond and prevent coercion by third countries pressuring the E.U. or an E.U. member state economically. Under the instrument, the E.U. could potentially deny access to its market for things like foreign direct investment, trade in goods, or trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights.
