{"id":43528,"date":"2026-04-25T20:15:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T20:15:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/43528\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T20:15:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T20:15:05","slug":"eu-chief-says-trumps-threats-challenge-europes-security-and-prosperity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/43528\/","title":{"rendered":"EU chief says Trump’s threats challenge Europe’s security and prosperity"},"content":{"rendered":"

BRUSSELS (AP) \u2014 U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s threats<\/a> to annex Greenland and impose tariffs<\/a> on its backers pose a challenge to Europe\u2019s security, principles and prosperity, European Council President Ant\u00f3nio Costa<\/a> said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll these three dimensions are being tested in the current moment of transatlantic relations,\u201d said Costa, who has convened an emergency summit of the leaders of all 27 European Union member states on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s determination to \u201c acquire<\/a> \u201d Greenland \u2014 a mineral-rich, semiautonomous Danish territory in the Arctic region \u2014 for what he claims are security reasons, has undermined trust in the United States among allies in Europe and Canada.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the World Economic Forum later on Wednesday, Trump might have eased some concerns when he made clear for the first time that he would not use force to seize Greenland, saying: \u201cI won\u2019t do that. Okay?\u201d <\/p>\n

Denmark angered Trump after sending a military \u201creconnaissance\u201d force to Greenland. A small numbers of troops<\/a> from several European nations joined, and Denmark is weighing a longer-term military presence there.<\/p>\n

Costa said EU leaders are united on \u201cthe principles of international law, territorial integrity and national sovereignty,\u201d something the bloc has underlined in defending Ukraine against invasion by Russia<\/a>, and which is now threatened in Greenland.<\/p>\n

In a speech to EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France, he also stressed that only \u201cDenmark and Greenland can decide their future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Costa said that \u201cwe stand ready to defend ourselves, our member states, our citizens, our companies, against any form of coercion. And the European Union has the power and the tools to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also insisted that \u201cfurther tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and are incompatible with the EU-US trade agreement<\/a>.\u201d The lawmakers must endorse that deal made last July, but it\u2019s now been put on hold.<\/p>\n

Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament\u2019s International Trade Committee, said Trump is still \u201cusing tariffs as a coercive instrument.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil the threats are over, there will be no possibility for compromise,\u201d Lange said, describing tariffs as \u201can attack against the economic and territorial sovereignty and integrity of the European Union.\u201d<\/p>\n

EU leaders have been galvanized by Trump\u2019s threats over Greenland, and are rethinking their relations with America, their longtime ally and the most powerful member of NATO.<\/p>\n

\u201cAppeasement is always a sign of weakness. Europe cannot afford to be weak \u2014 neither against its enemies, nor ally,\u201d Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, long a staunch supporter of strong transatlantic ties, posted on social media on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAppeasement means no results, only humiliation. European assertiveness and self-confidence have become the need of the moment,\u201d Tusk wrote.<\/p>\n

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who manages trade on behalf of the EU, warned that the bloc is \u201cat a crossroads.\u201d <\/p>\n

Should tariffs come, she said, \u201cwe are fully prepared to act, if necessary, with unity, urgency and determination.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Strasbourg, she told the lawmakers that the commission is working on \u201ca massive European investment surge in Greenland\u201d to beef up its economy and infrastructure, as well as a new European security strategy.<\/p>\n

Security around the island itself should be boosted with partners like the U.K., Canada, Norway and Iceland, among others, von der Leyen said.<\/p>\n

Despite Trump apparently backing off from military threats, Greenland\u2019s government Wednesday told its citizens to be prepared as it published a handbook on what to do in a crisis. <\/p>\n

The guide — in Greenlandic and Danish — does not reference any threat from the U.S. and directs Greenlanders to ensure they have sufficient supplies at home to be able to survive for five days. The guide is similar to one published by Nordic nations<\/a> Finland, Norway and Sweden and recommends people have three liters (0.8 gallons) of water per person per day, canned food and fuel as well as hunting and medical supplies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just went to the grocery store and bought the supplies,\u201d Tony Jakobsen in Greenland\u2019s capital Nuuk said, showing AP the contents of bags which included candles, snacks and toilet roll. Jakobsen said he thought Trump\u2019s rhetoric toward Greenland was \u201cjust threats… but it\u2019s better to be ready than not ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking in Davos, Trump described Greenland as a strategic piece of ice which is largely uninhabited.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s \u201cinsulting\u201d that Trump \u201ctalks about the Greenlandic people and the Greenlandic nation as just an ice cube,\u201d Johnny Hedemann told AP.<\/p>\n

Hedemann spoke as he was on the way to the shops to buy a camping stove and mashed potatoes which \u201cyou can just add water to.\u201d A few years ago, he said, Nuuk had no power for several days and that was \u201ca taster\u201d of what could happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiving in this nature, you have to be prepared for almost anything. And now there\u2019s another threat — and that\u2019s Trump,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Hedemann also said he thought it unlikely that Trump would take Greenland by force but agreed it is best to be prepared because \u201cwith this lunatic, you don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen tomorrow. He can make things very bad for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014-<\/p>\n

Burrows reported from Nuuk, Greenland<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BRUSSELS (AP) \u2014 U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s threats to annex Greenland and impose tariffs on its backers pose…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43529,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[138],"tags":[428,27815,382,4990,12,279,8917,307,939,1665,1099,4130,2758,27813,51,8224,27812,27814,403,52],"class_list":{"0":"post-43528","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-antonio-costa","8":"tag-antonio-costa","9":"tag-bernd-lange","10":"tag-denmark","11":"tag-denmark-government","12":"tag-donald-trump","13":"tag-donald-tusk","14":"tag-eurocopa-2024","15":"tag-europe","16":"tag-european-union","17":"tag-general-news","18":"tag-greenland","19":"tag-international-agreements","20":"tag-international-trade","21":"tag-johnny-hedemann","22":"tag-politics","23":"tag-send-to-apple-news","24":"tag-tariffs-and-global-trade","25":"tag-tony-jakobsen","26":"tag-ursula-von-der-leyen","27":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116467185903037340","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}