Greenland crisis: Europe needs the US, but it also needs to stand up to Trump | Greenland

The Greenland crisis could be Europe’s moment to stand up to Donald Trump, as officials said a US attempt to annex the territory could fracture the transatlantic NATO alliance.

European leaders have acceded to Trump’s demands for nearly a year, pushing NATO countries to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP and threatening to withdraw U.S. support for Ukraine as part of a peace process that appears to favor Russia. They have also responded mutedly to American adventurism abroad, including capturing and returning Venezuelan Nicolas Maduro.

Obsequiousness was often displayed in public. Various European leaders have vied for the role of “Trump whisperer” and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte infamously referred to him as “Daddy” during a summit last June.

But Trump’s repeated and increasingly bellicose demands that Denmark cede or sell him semi-autonomous Greenland have triggered one of the transatlantic partnership’s biggest crises in its history — and could force Europe to draw a line in the snow.

“The president’s ambition is on the table,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told Fox News after the discussions. “Of course we have our red lines. It’s 2026, you trade with people but you don’t trade with people.”

After an hour-long meeting with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Rasmussen and Greenland’s Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt smoked cigarettes, grim-faced, outside the Eisenhower Executive Building in Washington DC.

“When it comes to Greenland, the Europeans have found a red line that they really want to respect,” said Kristine Berzina, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund for U.S. defense and transatlantic security.

“Everything else has been the subject of negotiations… but the Greenland situation is different because it touches on the question of sovereignty and the question of whether Europe is capable of defending itself on its own territory, on its own rights.”

Europe, however, finds itself at a “diplomatic disadvantage” due to its dependence on the United States for its security, said former Latvian Prime Minister Krišjanis Kariņš.

“Europe is unfortunately not in a strong position to strongly oppose it, because, for example, if Europe opened the conflict in the trade zone, I am sure that the United States would react in the same way, or even more than in the same way,” he said. “At the end of the day, Europe still needs the United States. »

The pressure on Danish and Greenlandic officials is enormous. A day after meeting with U.S. officials, a visibly emotional Motzfeldt said she had been overwhelmed by the final days of negotiations.

“Denmark has really just been a good ally of the United States,” said Marisol Maddox, a senior researcher at Dartmouth University’s Institute for Arctic Studies. “That’s also part of what makes this so extraordinary, it’s like you go up to your best friend and randomly slap him… There’s nothing that can cause that.”

Trump’s interest in acquiring the island has only grown since his longtime friend Ronald Lauder, heir to the cosmetics company Estée Lauder, first suggested it to him in 2019. The White House has said its main concern is national security, but Trump has admitted ego also plays a key role. He told the New York Times last week that owning Greenland was “what I think is psychologically necessary to be successful.” On Friday, Trump threatened to impose tariffs on countries that do not “comply” with his ambition to annex Greenland.

Others in his administration – particularly Vance – saw the Greenland obsession as an opportunity to spark a new fight with European allies, and European diplomats saw his decision to rejoin the negotiations as a negative sign.

Vance “especially appreciates this,” one said. “It’s clear why he got involved and it will make the discussions more emotional.” Politico reported that 10 ministers and officials questioned about his involvement did not consider him an ally on Greenland or other transatlantic issues.

Europe responded by seeking to cut short the Trump administration’s argument that Greenland is not sufficiently protected against a possible Russian or Chinese attack. A small French military contingent arrived on the island on Thursday as part of a limited deployment including troops from Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

“The defense and protection of Greenland is a common concern of the entire NATO alliance,” said Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. Rasmussen and Motzfeldt are expected to meet Rutte for talks on Monday.

By deploying troops and assets, Kariņš said European leaders could remove a pretext for the Trump administration to annex the territory, referring to arguments that it was not protected against Russian and Chinese aggression.

“President Trump now has a pretty established track record of doing things his way,” he said. But if Europe strengthens Greenland’s military security, “it will remove a public argument for the Trump administration” in favor of annexation.

Besides military deployments, observers have many ideas on how the EU can protect Danish sovereignty over Greenland and assert European interests. At the softer end, suggestions include convening an international Arctic security summit in Nuuk, co-hosted by Denmark and Greenland, in collaboration with the EU and third countries including the UK, Canada, Norway and the US.

More radical ideas are also circulating, such as freezing the European Parliament’s vote on ratifying the EU-US trade deal Trump struck last year at his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland. A group of Socialist and Green MEPs say the vote on the deal, currently scheduled for February, would be “easily seen as a reward… for his actions”.

However, such a move is unlikely to gain majority support in the right-wing parliament, where many MEPs are reluctant to antagonize the White House.

The day after Rasmussen said Trump remained committed to conquering Greenland, EU officials continued their diplomacy. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday called the United States an ally and partner when examining the situation in Greenland.

She also explained how the EU was seeking to strengthen its support for the island, citing the opening of an office in Nuuk and a proposal to double EU financial aid. “Greenland can count on us, politically, economically and financially,” she told reporters.

Constantinos Kombos, the foreign minister of Cyprus, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU, said the bloc must step up dialogue with the United States on Greenland. “Maybe [the current administration] is different from what we are used to and it is, but that does not mean we have the luxury of responding with our self-isolation,” he said.