European leaders have oscillated between disbelief and denial in response to the United States’ announced annexation of Greenland. “If the United States chooses to launch a military attack on another NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] country, then everything stops,” warned Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. “That scenario does not exist,” declared Emmanuel Macron. Instead of commenting on the unthinkable, Europeans would be better served by taking action. They need to dare to engage in a balance of power and to draw red lines; such is the purpose of diplomacy. It is also a matter of territorial sovereignty and solidarity, as well as dignity and honor.
Within a democratic bloc like the European Union, the credibility of political leaders would be fundamentally undermined if they were to surrender, without resistance, a part of their territory – Greenland, one of the 13 “overseas countries and territories associated with the EU” – and, at the same time, abandon the sovereign people of Greenland to the US. How then could the EU continue to support Ukraine’s territorial integrity on the grounds that Kyiv’s defeat would open the door to a Russian military assault on the EU?
During his first term (2017 – 2021), US President Donald Trump made clear the US position on Greenland: The territory, already home to a major US military base in Pituffik, should become part of the US. At the time, he considered having the US acquire the territory through purchase. Today, a year after returning to office, and following the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on January 3, Trump and his team are considering taking Greenland by force.
Within international government circles, it was common throughout 2025 for Trump to be described as both a braggart and an isolationist. Yet the record of his US foreign policy is unequivocal: On the one hand, his administration has intervened on every continent, but on the other, Trump has often done exactly what he said he would. In addition to the Venezuelan abduction (in the name of countering drug trafficking), there were the strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen (to protect maritime trade) in spring 2025; the bombing of Iran’s military nuclear infrastructure (for the sake of preserving peace, in June); and the attacks on Islamic State positions in Syria and Nigeria (to protect Christian populations) in December.
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