Europe’s top foreign ministers will meet after the White House renewed threats over Greenland
Listen to this article
Average 5 minutes
The audio version of this article was created by AI-based technology. It can be mispronounced. We are working with our partners to continuously review and improve the results.
European governments, including those of France and Germany, are working closely together on how to respond if the United States takes action with the threat of taking Greenland, as Europe seeks to deal with US President Donald Trump’s ambitions in the region.
The seizure of US troops in Greenland by long-time ally Denmark will send shock waves through the NATO alliance and deepen the rift between Trump and European leaders.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the issue would be raised at a meeting with the foreign ministers of Germany and Poland later in the day.
“We want to take action, but we want to do it in cooperation with the Europeans,” he said on French radio station Inter.
Leaders from major European countries and Canada rallied behind Greenland this week, claiming the Arctic island belongs to its people, following Trump’s renewed threat to take over the territory.
Denmark, Greenland want ‘reasonable dialogue’
Trump in recent days has reiterated that he wants to take control of Greenland, an idea first expressed in 2019 during his first presidency. He says the island is key to America’s military strategy and says Denmark is not doing enough to protect it.
Trump’s latest comments come on the heels of a weekend US military operation that captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. The legality of the kidnapping under international law has been questioned, but it has raised concerns that Greenland may face a similar situation.
Greenland MP and opposition leader Pele Broberg responds to US threats to annex Greenland by encouraging direct talks with the Trump administration: ‘We want independence. They want safety. Something we can both benefit from?’
Other White House officials did not allay those concerns with statements this week.
Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt said Tuesday that Trump and his advisers were “discussing a number of options” regarding Greenland and that, “U.S. military use is always an option for the commander-in-chief.”
Separately, White House adviser Stephen Miller questioned Denmark’s territorial claim to Greenland in an interview with CNN on Monday, saying: “No one is going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland.”
France’s Barrot suggested that he had controlled US military operations during a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenland counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, requested an urgent meeting with Rubio to discuss the situation.
“We would like to add something to the discussion,” Rasmussen wrote on social media. “The shouting match needs to be replaced with meaningful dialogue. Now.”
Congress leaders criticize ‘compulsion’
The world’s largest island but with a population of just 57,000, Greenland is not an independent member of NATO but is covered by Denmark’s membership of the Western alliance.
The island is conveniently located between Europe and North America, making it a critical point for the US missile defense system for decades. Its mineral wealth also aligns with Washington’s desire to reduce dependence on China.
The Trump administration’s second aggressive statements have caused confusion and dismay as a 1951 treaty between the US and Denmark gives Washington the right to move freely and build military bases in Greenland as long as Denmark and Greenland are notified.
The US military maintains a permanent presence at the Pituffik airbase in northwest Greenland.
US President-elect Donald Trump has long been interested in having control over Greenland, from his willingness to buy the country in 2019, to his recent refusal to issue a military takeover decision. Andrew Chang examines four possible reasons why Trump is calling Greenland ownership an ‘absolute necessity.’ Photos provided by Getty Images, Reuters and The Canadian Press.
Greenland and Denmark also said the island is not for sale, which is a fact stated in a statement issued jointly by the chairmen of the NATO Observer Group of the US Senate, Republican Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire.
“When Denmark and Greenland make it clear that Greenland is not for sale, the United States must honor its treaty obligations and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark,” the statement read. “Any suggestion that our nation can enter into a NATO alliance through force or external pressure undermines the very principles of choice our Alliance exists to protect.”
The statement added that Denmark had increased its defense spending in recent years and was “among the first to stand with us” as the US took a military role in Afghanistan. following the 9/11 attacks.
But several other Republicans have heeded the White House’s line that Greenland is more important to the US, including several in Congress and Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, who was named special envoy to Greenland last month.
Trump has also said that Russian and Chinese ships are sailing in the waters around Greenland, which Denmark disputes.
“The picture painted of Russian and Chinese ships right in the Nuuk fjord and massive Chinese investment is wrong,” Rasmussen told reporters on Tuesday night.
Ship tracking data from MarineTraffic and LSEG shows no Chinese or Russian ships near Greenland.
