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[ti-amie]

Denmark and Finland urge caution for US-bound transgender people
Travel advice updated amid reports of ordeals at US border after Trump said country would only recognise two genders

Ashifa Kassam
Fri 21 Mar 2025 16.21 EDT
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Denmark and Finland have updated their US travel advice for transgender people, joining the handful of European countries that have sought to caution US-bound travellers in recent weeks as reports emerge of ordeals at the American border.

Denmark said this week it had begun advising transgender travellers to contact the US embassy in Copenhagen before departure to ensure there would be no issues with travel documents.

The change came after Donald Trump made a priority of rolling back trans and non-binary rights, announcing that the US would only recognise two genders and signing off on executive orders that sought to exclude transgender people from the US military, limit their access to sport and curtail gender-transition procedures for people under the age of 19.

The Danish foreign ministry made no mention of Trump but noted that the application form for the US Electronic System for Travel Authorization allows travellers to choose only male or female. Danish law, in contrast, allows citizens to identify their gender as X.

“If your passport has the gender designation X or you have changed gender, it is recommended to contact the US embassy prior to travel for guidance on how to proceed,” the Danish travel advisory page now reads.

Officials said that no Danish citizens had been refused entry to the US or detained at the border since Trump took office. Instead, the LGBT+ Danmark association said it had requested the advisory update.

“We are worried that people could be stopped at the airport and refused entry, or that something inappropriate and uncomfortable could happen at the airport,” Susanne Branner Jespersen told Danish broadcaster Radio IIII.

Earlier this month, Germany also reportedly flagged that transgender travellers or those travelling with the gender X marked on their passports should contact US diplomatic missions before their departure.

Soon after, Finland updated its advice page. “If the applicant’s current sex on their passport is different from their sex confirmed at birth, the US authorities may refuse entry,” the page, updated in mid-March, reads.

Other European countries have sought to sharpen their language around US entry requirements. In Germany, news that three German nationals had been detained at the border led the government to update its travel advisory to note that a visa or entry waiver does not guarantee entry into the US.

“The final decision on whether a person can enter the US lies with the US border authorities,” a spokesperson for the foreign minister told Reuters.

British officials also appeared to have revisited their US travel advisory, which now notes that anyone found breaking the country’s entry rules could face arrest or detention.

Earlier this month it emerged that a British tourist had been detained in the US for 10 days after she was told she should have applied for a working visa, instead of a tourist visa.

When asked by Reuters, the Foreign Office declined to comment on why it had changed the advisory or confirm the date that it was done.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/ ... MP=bsky_gu

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

[ponchi101]

How more of a hypocrite can you be?
US Bars Cristina Kirchner from entry in the USA. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/ ... 025-03-21/
Probably afraid she will teach them how to do it. Better.

[ti-amie]

Greenland condemns planned visits by Usha Vance and Trump adviser
14 hours ago

James FitzGerald
BBC News


Second Lady Usha Vance is visiting to celebrate Greenlandic culture, the US says

Greenland's politicians have condemned plans for high-profile US visits, in the wake of President Donald Trump's threats to take over the island.

Second Lady Usha Vance will make a cultural visit this week, and a separate trip is expected from Trump's National Security Adviser Mike Waltz.

Outgoing Greenlandic Prime Minister Mute Egede described the plan as aggressive, and said the duo had not been invited for meetings. Meanwhile, the island's likely next leader accused the US of showing a lack of respect.

Greenland - the world's biggest island, situated between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans - has been controlled by Denmark, nearly 3,000km (1,860 miles) away, for about 300 years.

It governs its own domestic affairs, but decisions on foreign and defence policy are made in Copenhagen. The US has long held a security interest - and has had a military base on the island since World War Two.

It is also thought Trump is interested in the island's rare earth minerals. His son Donald Jr visited Greenland before Trump's inauguration in January.

Announcing Mrs Vance's visit, the White House said the second lady would visit historical sites and attend the Avannaata Qimussersu, Greenland's national dogsled race.

Her delegation - including her son - would be there to "celebrate Greenlandic culture and unity", the statement said.

Waltz's trip was confirmed by a source who spoke to the BBC's US partner, CBS News. He is expected to visit before Mrs Vance and to travel with Energy Secretary Chris Wright, according to the New York Times.

Outgoing PM Egede described Waltz's visit in particular as a provocation. "What is the security advisor doing in Greenland? The only purpose is to show a demonstration of power to us," he told Sermitsiaq newspaper.

Speaking to the same paper, Greenland's probable next PM Jens-Frederik Nielsen accused the American officials of showing the local population a lack of respect.

US National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said the United States has a vested interest in the Arctic, and so "it should not be a surprise the National Security Advisor and Secretary of Energy are visiting a US Space Base to get first-hand briefings from our service members on the ground".

He said that the visit is also an opportunity to " build on partnerships that respects Greenland's self-determination and advances economic cooperation" and to "learn about Greenland, its culture, history, and people".

Trump appeared to escalate his campaign to take over the island during a conversation with Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte earlier this month.

Greenland was already on the defensive about Trump's talk of a takeover, but he sent further shockwaves by implying he might ask to take the island with support of Nato, a military alliance of which Denmark is also a part.

"You know, Mark, we need that for international security... we have a lot of our favourite players cruising around the coast, and we have to be careful," Trump said. "We'll be talking to you."

When asked about the prospect of annexation, Trump said: "I think that will happen."

The move prompted Greenland's leading political parties to issue a joint statement to condemn the American president's "unacceptable behaviour".

The issue took centre-stage in the recent election, during which Egede's governing Inuit Ataqatigiit party was defeated in a surprise result by Nielsen's Democratic party, which favours a gradual approach to independence from Denmark.

Earlier this month, during a speech to the US Congress, Trump said he strongly supported the people of Greenland's right to determine their own future. "If you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America," he said.

According to recent polls, almost 80% of Greenlanders back independence from Denmark. But an opinion survey in January suggested an even greater number rejected the idea of becoming part of the US.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g07 ... =editorial

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

[ponchi101]

If you still need a travel warning before going to the USA, you are not listening.

[ti-amie]

Look at the timestamp

[ti-amie]

r/europe
•
2 hr. ago
ToinouAngel
France

US tells French companies to comply with Donald Trump’s anti-diversity order

The Trump administration has sent a letter to some large French companies warning them to comply with an executive order banning diversity, equity and inclusion programmes.

The letter, sent by the American embassy in Paris, stated that Trump’s executive order applied to companies outside the US if they were a supplier or service provider to the American government, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The embassy also sent a questionnaire that ordered the companies to attest to their compliance. The document, which the Financial Times has seen, is titled “certification regarding compliance with applicable federal anti-discrimination law”.

The document says “Department of State contractors must certify that they do not operate any programs promoting DEI that violate any applicable anti-discrimination laws and agree that such certification is material for purposes of the government’s payment decision and therefore subject to the False Claims Act.”

The documents appear to signal that the Trump administration is widening its campaign against DEI to foreign companies after launching a crackdown against US media groups such as Disney.

A senior banker in Paris said he was shocked by the letter. “It’s crazy . . . but everything is now possible. The rule of the strongest now prevails.”

The French finance ministry expressed concerns after some of the companies involved notified it about the move.

“This practice reflects the values of the new US government. They are not the same as ours,” said a person close to France’s economy minister Eric Lombard. “The ministry will remind his counterparts in the US government of that.”

The existence of the letter was first reported by Les Échos newspaper.

The extraterritorial move by the US comes amid heightening tensions between the Trump administration and Europe over economic and security policy as nation pivots away from its traditional allies, especially on trade and Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Trump this week imposed an additional 25 per cent levy on auto sector imports into the US and has increased tariffs on European steel and aluminium imports. The EU is working on reciprocal tariffs in response, but has not yet decided which products to target.

Top Trump officials’ attitude towards Europe was cast into stark relief this week when messages about US attack plans in Yemen were leaked to American media. “I just hate bailing Europe out again,” vice-president JD Vance wrote in a Signal chat group. “It’s PATHETIC,” responded defence secretary Pete Hegseth.

France has not traditionally been a place where DEI programmes have taken root because of legal limitations on the collection of racial and ethnic data. Employers are not allowed to factor people’s origins into hiring or promotion decisions.

But French companies that are potentially exposed to the US demands include aviation and defence groups, consulting providers and infrastructure companies. The FT could not immediately determine which companies had received the letter.

According to Les Échos, the letter concluded: “If you do not agree to sign this document, we would be grateful if you could kindly provide us with detailed reasons, which we will forward to our legal department.”

via ToinouAngel
OP
•
2h ago
France

[ponchi101]

He is really thinking he is president of the world.
YAIT.
WAIT.

[ti-amie]

Video at the link

[ponchi101]

Completely tone deaf.
That is not how you deal with psychopaths. Appeasing Tiny/Vance is not going to work. If they think that talking sense will work, they do not understand that the current US administration has no common sense.

[dryrunguy]

Completely tone deaf.
That is not how you deal with psychopaths. Appeasing Tiny/Vance is not going to work. If they think that talking sense will work, they do not understand that the current US administration has no common sense.

Interesting. I didn't take it that way at all. I took it as, "Good evening, gentlemen. Here's how adults approach such things..." It was quietly insulting and brazenly condescending. I know it won't do any good. But neither does anything else, including my New York cabbie favorite, "F*** you, you f***in' f***!" So why not?