BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks look set to extend losses from the previous session on Tuesday as U.S. President Donald Trump intensified his rhetoric on Greenland, insisting the U.S. needs the Arctic Island for national security reasons.
Citing security threats from Russia and China, the United States is set to deploy military aircraft to its Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland for 'long-planned' activities.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent sought to play down the fallout from Trump's 'No Nobel, No Peace' comment and insisted it would be 'very unwise' for Europe to escalate.
'Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace,' Trump wrote previously in a message to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store and claimed there were no written documents proving Danish ownership.
He then claimed that the 'World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland.'
European Union leaders will hold an emergency meeting in Brussels on Thursday to decide how to respond to Trump's threat to impose new tariffs on several European countries.
The European Union stated that its preference was to 'engage not escalate', but warned it was prepared to act. Trump is scheduled to address the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday.
Asian markets were mostly lower as investors watched for the European Union's response to potential U.S. tariffs.
Earlier today, the People's Bank of China has kept its 1-year and 5-year loan prime rates unchanged at 3 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively as expected.
The dollar hit a one-week low against major peers while gold hit a new record high at $4,701.78 an ounce as rising geopolitical and trade tensions in the dispute over Greenland continue to trigger a risk-off mood across global markets. Oil prices were little changed on oversupply worries.
U.S. stock markets were closed on Monday in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.
European markets logged their biggest daily drop in two months on Monday as Trump doubled down on his plan to acquire Greenland and reports suggested that EU leaders are considering countermeasures in response to Trump's tariff threats.
The pan European Stoxx 600 tumbled 1.2 percent. The German DAX lost 1.3 percent, France's CAC 40 slumped 1.8 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 shed 0.4 percent.
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