Updates headline and first paragraph and prices throughout, adds fresh analyst comment; adds file photos
Trump steps up push to take control of Greenland
Stocks selloff across Wall Street, Europe and Asia
US Treasury yields spike, curve steepens
Gold, silver climb to record highs
By Chibuike Oguh and Elizabeth Howcroft
NEW YORK/PARIS, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Global stocks were lower across board on Tuesday, with a selloff in equities on Wall Street, Europe and Asia, amid heightened market volatility after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to reignite a trade war with Europe over Greenland.
Trump said he no longer thought "purely of peace" after he did not win the Nobel Peace Prize and reiterated a threat to increase tariffs on EU members Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands, along with Britain and Norway, until the U.S. is allowed to buy Greenland.
EU leaders will discuss options, including tariffs worth 93 billion euros ($109 billion) on U.S. imports, at an emergency summit in Brussels on Thursday.
"The geopolitical risks that we've been talking about for a long time are re-emerging and are shifting market perceptions of common alliances across allies in Europe," said Wasif Latif, chief investment officer at Sarmaya Partners in New Jersey.
"That is couple with what's going on in Japan with the JGB yields continuing to rise and the market caught at the sleep at the wheel on that risk that's out there. So it's all coming together for a pretty significant risk off day."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 1.39%, the S&P 500 .SPX fell 1.39% and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC fell 1.64%.
Europe's STOXX 600 was down 1% on the day, having already fallen 1.2% on Monday .STOXX, while the MSCI World Equity Index was down 1.16% .MIWD00000PUS. The FTSE 100 was down 1% .FTSE.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS closed lower by 0.62%, while Japan's Nikkei .N225 fell 1.11%. Japanese government bonds (JGBs) plunged, sending yields to record highs, after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's calling of a snap election shook confidence in the country's fiscal health.
"But we have to take all this with a grain of salt because what we've seen in prior times is that we get a risk off and a selloff like this and the Trump administration and the powers that be walk things back and calm things down," Latif added.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters in Davos on Tuesday that he was confident that the U.S. and European countries would find a solution over the Trump administration's aim to take over Greenland, brushing off "hysteria" about a possible trade war.
TARIFFS THREATENED ON FRENCH WINES AND CHAMPAGNE
Trump separately threatened to hit French wines and champagne with 200% tariffs, in an apparent effort to cajole French President Emmanuel Macron to join his Board of Peace initiative.
Amelie Derambure, senior multi-asset portfolio manager at Amundi in Paris, said that the downward move in markets was "precautionary profit-taking and some risk reduction," but that markets were helped by the macroeconomic backdrop.
The euro was up 0.68% against the dollar at $1.1724, having earlier hit its highest since January 2 EUR=. The Japanese yen JPY= strengthened 0.08% against the greenback to 157.99 per dollar. The dollar index was down 0.56% at 98.526 =USD heading for its second day of declines.
U.S. Treasury yields hit their highest since September in early trading. U.S. markets were closed on Monday for a public holiday, so the moves were a delayed reaction to the developments that began over the weekend.
The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes US10YT=RR rose 5.2 basis points to 4.283%. The yield curve between 2-year and 10-year U.S. Treasuries, and between 10-year and 30-year U.S. Treasuries, steepened by the most since October US2US10=RR, US10US30=RR.
The yield on the benchmark German 10-year Bunds DE10YT=RR rose 2.6 basis points to 2.867%.
Oil prices edged higher, with Brent crude futures up 1.56% at $64.95 a barrel LCOc1 and U.S. West Texas Intermediate up 1.95% at $60.6 a barrel CLc1.
Gold hit a record high, rising above $4,700 an ounce XAU=. It was last up rose 1.61% to $4,744.86 an ounce.
Spot silver XAG= slipped 1.16% to $94.42/oz, after hitting a record $95.87 earlier.
($1 = 0.8535 euros)
(Reporting by Chibuike Oguh in New York and Elizabeth Howcroft in Paris; editing by Barbara Lewis, Jan Harvey and Nick Zieminski)
((Chibuike.Oguh@thomsonreuters.com; Phone: +332-219-1834; Reuters Messaging: chibuike.oguh.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
