Fact Check: Did German troops leave Greenland following Trump's tariff threats?

NUUK, GREENLAND: President Donald Trump on January 17 said that an additional 10% import tariffs would take effect from February 1 on goods from countries such as Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, the Netherlands, Finland, and Britain, until the United States concludes a deal to buy Greenland.

Following this, a rumor circulated online claiming that German soldiers left Greenland following Trump's threat to impose tariffs on European allies opposed to his administration's bid to buy the Danish territory. But is there any truth to this? Let us find out below.

Claim: German troops left Greenland due to Trump's tariff threats

A rumor circulated across the social media platform X, where a user wrote, "The German soldiers leave Greenland immediately after Trump threatens with tariffs."

Moreover, the online post, which shared a video by the German news outlet Bild, showed German troops withdrawing from Greenland. The post received more than 980k views and around 4,000 X users reshared the post. The same post with a similar caption was shared by other X users as well. 

Trump warned on January 17 that the tariff would rise to 25% on June 1 if no deal was reached to purchase Greenland. The POTUS had repeatedly insisted the US would acquire Greenland 'one way or the other' and framed the move as essential for US national security.

Moreover, the tariff threat comes as the Supreme Court is expected to issue a future ruling on whether Trump’s broad use of emergency powers to impose tariffs can stand.

Fact Check: German soldiers left Greenland after ending pre-planned mission

The claims made in the online posts are false, as the German troops left Greenland after completing a pre-planned mission and not due to Donald Trump's tariff threats.

In an online statement on January 14, three days before Trump’s tariff threats, the German government mentioned that the deployment of troops would take place from January 15 to January 17. 

The statement also mentioned that the mission's aim, which involved several other European countries, was to explore the conditions for possible military contributions to support Denmark in ensuring security in the region.

The German government mentioned in the statement that it would dispatch a reconnaissance team of 13 personnel to Nuuk, Greenland, on the morning of January 15 via an Airbus A400M transport aircraft.

Furthermore, German soldiers left Greenland on January 18, which was one day later than the date originally announced, as per the info provided by a spokesperson for the operational command of Germany’s Armed Forces to a news outlet.

Meanwhile, Germany’s Defence Ministry mentioned in an online statement that the scheduled three-day visit was shifted to start one day later so that Germany’s military could take advantage of Denmark’s offer to fly together to Greenland on January 16.

The Danish Armed Forces also released a video that showed European troops arriving in Greenland on January 16.