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Denmark imposing '500% tariffs' on Ozempic exports to US? No, that's satire | Fact check

Joedy McCreary   Paste BN
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The claim: Denmark announced 500% tariff on Ozempic exports to US

A Jan. 31 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows a screenshot of an X post claiming a Scandinavian nation retaliated after President Donald Trump said he wants to acquire its territory.

“Denmark has responded to Trump’s demand to annex Greenland,” the text of the screenshotted X post begins. “They will now charge Americans a 500% tariff for Ozempic.”

The Instagram post received more than 100 likes in five days. The X post was reposted thousands of times, and a version of the claim also circulated widely on Threads.

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Our rating: False

There is no record of Denmark announcing any tariffs related to its exports of Ozempic. The social media user who first shared the claim later said it was fabricated.

Claim came from 'a satirical take on geopolitics'

The claim makes reference to multiple items on Trump's agenda. He threatened two North American allies with tariffs and made clear his interest in acquiring Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark – which is home to the manufacturer of popular weight loss drug Ozempic.

Fact check: Claim of Denmark's interest in buying US is stolen satire

The Danish government did not, however, announce any such tariff on U.S. imports of the medication. There is no record of the announcement on the website run by the nation's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The claim originated from a Jan. 9 LinkedIn post. The user who shared it stated in multiple follow-up posts that he fabricated the claim, in one post describing it as “a satirical take on geopolitics."

The claim in the Instagram post also confuses how tariffs work. Governments place them on goods that are imported – not exported, as the claim states – and the companies that bring in those goods pay the tariffs and then typically pass those costs to consumers through higher prices, economists have consistently said. For example, Trump imposed – and later paused – tariffs of 25% on goods shipped from Canada and Mexico. A 10% tariff on goods from China remained in effect as of Feb. 5.

Paste BN reached out to the LinkedIn user and the Instagram user who shared the post but did not immediately receive responses.

Lead Stories debunked a version of the claim.

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