The U.S. has asked Denmark to export eggs to help tackle an ongoing shortage caused by avian flu.
More than 30 million laying hens have been culled just this year due to outbreaks of avian flu across the U.S., causing prices to nearly double in the year to January and soar beyond $8 a dozen by late February.
But the timing of the request is awkward for the U.S., with Denmark among the countries feeling the sharp end of Donald Trump’s tariff wars and the president sparking outrage in the country over his demands to acquire Danish territory Greenland.
Trump vowed to bring down the price of eggs on the first day of his second term during the election campaign, and in a recent address to a joint session of Congress blamed his predecessor for the “out of control” pricing.
But egg shortages are continuing, and industry organization Danish Eggs said it has been approached by the U.S. to increase its exports to help lift egg supplies.
Danish Eggs sector manager Jørgen Nyberg Larsen told AgriWatch that Denmark is not the only European country approached to send extra eggs to the U.S.
“They have approached us to ask how much we can deliver. They have also written to my colleagues in the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland,” he told Danish trade publication AgriWatch. But Mr Larsen said there would be difficulties fulfilling the request.
“Among other things, eggs in the U.S. – both for consumption and egg products – must be washed, and we are not allowed to do that in the EU,” he said.
“I asked if that still applies, and they wanted to ask about that in Washington. They came back and asked how much we can deliver, and I have answered that.”
The U.S. currently imports eggs from Mexico and Turkey, according to the US Department of Agriculture, as it struggles with the ongoing avian flu outbreak which began in 2022 and so far has seen upwards of 150 million birds culled.
Trump has maintained he was “working hard to get [egg prices] back down.” His administration previously announced it would inject about $1 billion into the poultry industry, including $500 million to boost biosecurity measures to slow or stop the spread of avian flu, as well as aid for farmers.
The Department of Justice has also launched an investigation into egg prices and competition in the egg market, over suspicions some producers were using avian flu to overly inflate their prices.
But the request for European egg exports comes at the same time as Trump has ramped up his tariff wars, threatening to increase taxes on European alcoholic beverages being brought into the U.S., including champage, by 200 per cent.
“The Entire World is RIPPING US OFF!!!” he said on his Truth Social platform this week.
Trump’s threats over alcohol were in retaliation for the European Union’s announcement it would increase tariffs on $28 billion-worth of U.S. imports, including Kentucky whisky and motorbikes.
The president’s tariff hikes – including a global 25 per cent increase on steel and aluminum import duties – have spurred a consumer boycott movement around the world, and Denmark is no different.
A Danish Facebook group calling on a boycott of U.S. goods has more than 80,000 members, and consumer demand has also led major Danish retailer Salling Group to label all European products in its stores with a black star.
Trump also faces backlash in Denmark over his designs on Greenland. On Thursday the president doubled down on his demands to acquire the country, saying he believes the U.S. will annex it eventually.
“I think it’ll happen,” Trump told reporters, sitting next to NATO Secretary-General and former Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte in the White House.
“We need that for international security, not just national security,” the president added.
The Danish and Greenland governments have both repeatedly said that the territory is not up for sale. Responding to Trump’s latest comments, Danish foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said under “NATO treaty, the U.N. charter or international law, Greenland is not open to annexation”.