NewsTracker Answers for week of Jan. 19, 2026

Q: President Donald Trump said Saturday he would raise taxes on imports from several of our NATO allies in Europe until he gets a deal to buy Greenland. Where is the island of Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark?

Circle the area on this map


Q: Trump threatened to raise tariffs on Denmark, Britain, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. Denmark’s European allies recently sent 37 troops to Greenland, amid Trump’s talk of using force to seize the island. Which ally of Denmark has the most military forces on Greenland?

A. Britain

B. France

C. Germany

D. United States


D. There are about 150 U.S. military personnel at a base in Greenland. Trump said he needs to own the island to protect it from Russia and China. However, under treaties with Denmark, the United States may already deploy as many troops as it wants to help protect Greenland.


Q: European leaders on Sunday called Trump’s tariff threats “blackmail” and met to consider retaliatory trade restrictions against the United States. Which of these economies has a trade surplus, exporting more than it imports from the other economy?

A. European Union

B. United States


A. The 27 nations of the European Union sell more to the United States than they buy from it. European members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) also depend on the United States to come to their defense if they are attacked. Those ties make it difficult to deal with the Trump administration’s attempt to force an ally of 77 years to give up territory it held long before the United States even existed.


Q: Greenland is the world’s largest island. How many people live there?

A. 5,775

B. 57,751

C. 577,513

D. 5.7 million


B. 57,751 people are living on Greenland’s 836,330 square miles, or one person for every 14.5 square miles, according to the CIA World Factbook. About 660,000 square miles of the island is covered by the largest ice sheet in the Northern Hemisphere. Nearly 90% of Greenlanders are Inuit, descendants of native people who have lived there for thousands of years.


Q: In a survey a year ago, 85% of Greenland’s residents said they opposed any takeover of their island by the United States. What did U.S. residents recently tell pollsters about taking over Greenland?

A. 71% opposed a takeover

B. 96% opposed using force

C. 70% wanted Congress to act

D. All of the above


D. In a Reuters poll last week, 71% of American adults said it would be a bad idea for the United States to take Greenland from Denmark. Only 4% said it would be a “good idea” to use military force. More than half of respondents in a poll said Trump has “gone too far” in intervening in other countries. And, 70% of Americans said Congressional approval should be required for any military action.