Live - Europe wants to 'avoid any escalation' with US over Greenland, says Friedrich Merz

European leaders are seeking to diffuse tensions with the United States over the future state of Greenland, even as Donald Trump doubles down on his threats to impose extra tariffs on eight European nations to force the sale of the sprawling island.

"NATO has been telling Denmark, for 20 years, that 'you have to get the Russian threat away from Greenland.' Unfortunately, Denmark has been unable to do anything about it. Now it is time, and it will be done!!!" Trump wrote on Truth Social overnight.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer denounced Trump's escalation as "completely wrong" and vowed to find a "pragmatic, sensible, sustained" solution to the "serious" crisis.

"A tariff war is in nobody's interest," he said on Monday morning at a press conference, as he called on "the whole country to pull together".

From Berlin, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged dialogue and warned that a sudden hike in duties would hurt both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

"We want to avoid any escalation in this dispute if at all possible," Merz said. "We simply want to try to resolve this problem together, and the American government knows that we could also retaliate. I don't want to, but if necessary, we will of course protect our European interests as well as our German national interests."

Numerous meetings, including between Europeans and Americans, are set to take place on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, where world leaders will gather this week. EU leaders will later convene in Brussels for an extraordinary summit.

Follow our live blog below to keep abreast of this fast-developing story.