![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/13608178-1024x676.jpg\")
The main reason Europeans are reluctant to get aggressive in public is that they see Trump\u2019s backing as vital to providing viable security guarantees for Ukraine under any peace deal with Russia. | Sergey Kozlov\/EPA<\/p>\nThe main reason Europeans are reluctant to get aggressive in public is that they see Trump\u2019s backing as vital to providing viable security guarantees for Ukraine under any peace deal with Russia.\u00a0At the same time, many allies simply can\u2019t imagine a world in which the U.S. takes Greenland by force. \u201cMaybe it\u2019s wishful thinking,\u201d the diplomat said, but noted: \u201cWe should be prepared for it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Another European official confirmed that governments are discussing how to strike back effectively against American territorial demands. \u201cThere is leverage in Europe, but it\u2019s not being utilized to the fullest extent,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n
The main reason Europeans are reluctant to get aggressive in public is that they see Trump\u2019s backing as vital to providing viable security guarantees for Ukraine under any peace deal with Russia. | Sergey Kozlov\/EPA<\/p>\n
At the moment, Europeans are not mentally ready for the kind of escalation that such retaliation would unleash. \u201cWe have to be prepared,\u201d the official added. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Within NATO \u2014 where any discussion of punishing the Americans remains largely out of bounds \u2014 some emphasize that doing so would be a double-edged sword. \u201cUsing bases as bargaining chips for leverage \u2014 and it can be done \u2014 would result in mutual damage,\u201d said one NATO diplomat. \u201cEurope would further lose security guarantees \u2026 and the U.S. would lose its most valuable forward operating platform.\u201d<\/p>\n
What assets, exactly?\u00a0<\/p>\n
As of 2024, the U.S. had 31 permanent bases and 19 other military sites<\/a> across Europe as part of the United States European Command. That included at least 67,500 active-duty servicemen, according to the latest U.S. Department of Defense figures<\/a>, with the lion\u2019s share of those stationed in Germany, Italy and the U.K.\u00a0<\/p>\n These include NATO\u2019s largest base in Europe at Ramstein, Germany, and air force bases in the U.K. at Lakenheath and Mildenhall, which together host around 3,000 military personnel. The Aviano air base in Italy supports the only U.S. fighter wing south of the Alps, and is \u201ca key NATO air power hub,\u201d according to the Center for European Policy Analysis.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The main reason Europeans are reluctant to get aggressive in public is that they see Trump\u2019s backing as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[2384,1528,229,26,17951,184,230,234,190,57,1193,3504,2271,159,651,3933,2000,2375,4174,1111,3048,238,2276,132,240,241,294,76,1887,4983],"class_list":["post-28390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-greenland","tag-africa","tag-americas","tag-defense","tag-denmark","tag-department","tag-donald-trump","tag-emmanuel-macron","tag-france","tag-germany","tag-greenland","tag-history","tag-intelligence","tag-iran","tag-italy","tag-jd-vance","tag-lars-lokke-rasmussen","tag-macron","tag-marco-rubio","tag-middle-east","tag-military","tag-romania","tag-russia","tag-security","tag-sweden","tag-trade","tag-ukraine","tag-united-kingdom","tag-united-states","tag-vladimir-putin","tag-weapons"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}