When the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was established in 1949 as a collective defence alliance to counter the perceived threat of Soviet expansionism in post-World War II, little did the Western European and Canada realize that 77 years later, the enemy that would attack or colonize one of their own kind would be the United States – one of the founding members of NATO – and not Soviet (Russia).
Effective from February 1, 2026, eight Europen Union nations – Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, Finland, The Netherlands, and the U.K. – will be subject to “a 10% tariff on any and all goods sent to the United States of America,” – Trump said on Saturday in a Truth Social post. The tariffs will then increase to 25% on June 1, until the U.S. is able to purchase Greenland.
Despite European sending a laughable 37 soldiers to defend Greenland from the U.S. and strengthen its military presence in Greenland, a symbolic sign of protest and a show of weakness, the U.S. president was not impressed. In fact, Donald Trump was infuriated by European allies’ resistance to his effort to annex the autonomous Danish territory.
In a rambling social-media post, Mr Trump accused allies of causing “a very dangerous situation for the Safety, Security, and Survival of our Planet”. The U.S. hunger and greed to colonize Greenland makes China’s quest to unify Taiwan look like a child play. Heck, it even makes Russia’s invasion of Ukraine justifiable based on Ukraine’s plan to join NATO.
Greenland is a self-governing territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. But Trump repeatedly claims – without proof – that China and Russia would take Greenland if the U.S. does not. He also claimed Denmark cannot protect Greenland. In truth, neither China nor Russia would invade Greenland because it would trigger Article 5 of NATO – an attack against one shall be considered an attack against all.
Even if it’s true the Chinese and Russian would colonize Greenland, the U.S. could easily increase its troops at its existing military base in Greenland rather than take over the entire territory. Denmark has said the U.S. is welcome to beef up its military presence in Greenland and has sought to open talks on cooperation there. But Copenhagen and the government of Greenland have said the island isn’t for sale.
Trump has said he would consider taking Greenland by force as an option to acquire the land – a clearest sign the primary agenda was to rob Greenland’s oil and other precious minerals. Europe’s major countries have backed Denmark, saying only Danes and Greenlanders can decide the future of Greenland. However, Trump appears to be calling the Europen Union’s bluff, betting the E.U could do nothing even after a forcible U.S. annexation of Greenland.
Trump’s controversial plan to conquer Greenland has been met with disapproval on the island, where protests against the U.S. have taken place. Huge crowds hit the streets in Greenland condemning Trump over his proposal. A large crowd of protesters conducted a “Stop Trump” march through the streets of Nuuk. Even Americans are rejecting the idea of the U.S. buying Greenland, let alone a hostile military takeover.
Trump’s economic threat and dismissal of allies’ usefulness have added to the sense of shock across Europe. The belief that the U.S. was deeply committed to its European allies and would defend them against an attack has been the foundation of NATO’s credibility and its power to deter enemies. That trust and commitment are now in serious doubt.
European leaders are now searching – desperately – for a response, and are caught between fear of further provoking Trump’s ire and determination to draw a line in the ice over Greenland. The leaders of Denmark and seven European allies have issued a statement warning that the “tariff threats undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral.”
Some E.U. countries want to show Trump that his pressure will also have consequences for the U.S., such as jeopardizing the trade deal reached last summer that avoided a trade war and stood to benefit American businesses. Some officials are looking at ways they could trigger harsher trade retaliation, while other leaders hope to defuse the latest row with behind-the-scenes outreach to administration officials.
European countries have already refrained from criticizing Trump despite his tariff war on the E.U., preferring to sacrifice economic benefit for security. Allied leaders have tried using flattery and deference to manage Trump, such as when NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte called him “daddy” last summer. But their silly strategy has backfired, emboldening Trump to bully the seemingly weak E.U. even more.
Most European governments fear that a full-blown rift could lead to Trump declaring the end of NATO, which would force them to build their own military alliance without the U.S. – a costly challenge for countries struggling with chronically low economic growth and strained public finances. But they are now caught with their pants down with Trump’s threat to take Greenland by force, if necessary.
Suddenly, the so-called Western interests such as democracy, common adversaries Russia and China, and the trans-Atlantic alliance are flushed down the toilet. The hypocrite U.S., fond of condemning China’s increased military pressure and “provocative” actions around Taiwan, is now determined to do on Greenland what it repeatedly told China not to do on Taiwan.
Europe has no one to blame but itself for foolishly believing that the U.S. would defend them come rain or shine. Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on U.S. readiness to stand behind Article 5. During his first term, he stunned allies on an early visit to alliance headquarters by not making the routine U.S. pledge to defend NATO members.
During his re-election campaign in 2024, Trump said he would encourage Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” to allies that don’t meet spending targets. Trump’s skepticism about NATO has been on display for years, but his willingness to pick a fight with European allies appears to be rising as he grows bolder about wielding U.S. power.
He also questioned whether European countries would come to America’s aid in a crisis. Before a NATO summit last June, when asked if he stood by the pact, Trump replied: “Depends on your definition. There are numerous definitions of Article 5.” Last week, he wrote on Truth Social: “I DOUBT NATO WOULD BE THERE FOR US IF WE REALLY NEEDED THEM.”
As European leaders were scrambling to talk him out of a damaging trans-Atlantic trade war over the island, President Trump is now accusing Norway, a member of E.U., of denying him the Nobel Peace Prize for his pursuit of the world’s largest island. And because Norway decided not to give him the Nobel Peace Prize, Trump said he no longer has the obligation to think about peace – suggesting that he would take Greenland by hook or by crook.
Panicked, E.U. officials and diplomats are taking the U.S. threats extremely seriously and see them as the latest evidence of a fundamental reshaping of trans-Atlantic ties. They are searching for ways to respond to the president without escalating the situation. At the same time, they have to put up a brave face and can’t be seen as surrendering to the U.S.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer criticized the Trump administration’s tariff threats as “completely wrong,” but declined to lay out what the U.K. would do in response. Starmer, who pioneered a kowtow approach to Trump that many other European leaders copied, said his main goal was to avoid any escalation. “Being pragmatic does not mean being passive,” – he said.
“There will be a united and clear response from Europe, and we are now preparing coordinated countermeasures with our European partners,” – German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said. “We are ready to find solutions. We are extending our hand, but we are not prepared to be blackmailed.” Besides empty rhetoric, in reality, Europe has nothing in its toolbox to fight back.
So far, the only step the bloc has taken in retaliation is to effectively freeze the process of approving last summer’s EU-U.S. trade deal in the European Parliament. The EU already has a list of U.S. goods worth more than US$100 billion on which it could impose retaliatory tariffs if Washington moves ahead. The EU, a single economic bloc of 450 million consumers, is America’s largest regional trading partner.
If Trump goes ahead with 10% tariffs on some EU members on February 1, the E.U. could respond by allowing the suspension to lapse, triggering tariffs on U.S. products. The list of retaliatory American goods, including chewing gum, motorcycles and peanut butter, would risk angering the Trump administration and sparking tit-for-tat escalation.
Some EU leaders, many of them NATO members, worry that if the bloc allows Trump to take control of Greenland, other European territories could be next. Worse, even if Europe could expand its military presence in Greenland, many critical weapons and military systems are only made in America, and Europe is struggling to strengthen its own military-industrial base.
An extreme option for Europe would be to limit or terminate U.S. use of military bases across Europe, such as the vast Ramstein Air Base in Germany, which employs more than 12,000 U.S. servicemembers and civilians. This response would dramatically escalate tensions and could prompt Trump to pull U.S. forces from the continent – something neither side says it wants now.
Hilariously, only after the U.S. backstabbed and betrayed Europe that the EU has started to rethink what it calls a derisking strategy with China,under which the bloc has taken a tougher stance on imports of subsidized Chinese products and China’s restrictions on European businesses. On the same day Trump threatened new tariffs on Greenland, the bloc hopes to announce a trade agreement with India.
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January 19th, 2026 by financetwitter
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