Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen appeared to take Trump’s threats at face value, warning that such an attack would spell the end of NATO. “The American president should be taken seriously when he says he wants Greenland,” she said on Monday. “If the U.S. chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops … including the security that has been established since the end of the second world war.”
Pressed repeatedly on what specific steps the EU could take to ward off Trump, the Commission demurred, saying only that it will “not stop defending” the principles of national sovereignty and territorial integrity — without clarifying how it planned to do that.
The Greenland quandary
World powers have in recent years sought to expand their Arctic footprints, and mineral-rich Greenland — which hosts a U.S. military base — is coveted for its strategic security and trade value.
While Greenland is a self-ruling territory of Denmark, it isn’t part of the EU itself, having left its precursor, the European Communities, in 1985. But Greenlanders are EU citizens because Denmark is in the bloc.
“We need Greenland for a national security situation,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday. “It’s so strategic. Right now, Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place.”
Russia has ramped up defense investments in the Arctic in recent years, while China has occasionally joined Moscow in joint patrols — though experts note that little military activity has taken place near Greenland itself.