\u201cenhance\u201d the transatlantic alliance\u2019s security.<\/a><\/p>\nNew FeatureIn ShortQuick Stories. Same trusted journalism.<\/p>\n
UK and European leaders have so far rejected the US President\u2019s demands to acquire what he called the \u201cbig, beautiful piece of ice\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u2018Say no, and we will remember\u2019<\/p>\n
But in an ominous warning to Denmark and Greenland if they did not give into his demands, Trump said: \u201cThey have a choice: you can say yes and we will be very appreciative, or you can say no and we will remember.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senior Nato officials told The i Paper that they feared the US President could threaten to pull vital support to Ukraine, if Denmark did not give in to his demands.<\/p>\n
A senior Nato official expressed serious concern that \u201cif we don\u2019t give Greenland to the US they will stop supporting Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked if the US President could use military or intelligence support for Ukraine as a lever in any negotiations over the Arctic island, another official simply replied: \u201cI do.\u201d<\/p>\n
It would not be the first time that Trump has used US intelligence as leverage in order to get his own way, having threatened to remove Canada from the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance during a row over tariffs. <\/p>\n
In March 2025, he temporarily pulled vital intelligence sharing from Ukraine in an attempt to force through a peace deal with Russia.<\/p>\n
![\"US](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/SEI_281698441.jpg\")
US President Donald Trump during his speech in Davos, were he reiterated his threats to take control of the Arctic island (Photo: Fabrice Coffrini\/AFP via Getty)<\/p>\n
The President\u2019s Davos speech has reverberated across Europe and into Ukraine, where a military commander, who wished to remain anonymous, said \u201cattempting to \u2018give up\u2019 Ukraine is really no sacrifice at all\u201d for Trump, rather \u201cit\u2019s his preference\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u2018Trump will use coercion\u2019<\/p>\n
The comments were echoed by a former White House staffer, who said: \u201cPresident Trump has a long memory for perceived slights. The President will surely find ways to extract some level of revenge \u2013 my fear would be that would come in the form of Ukraine military aide.\u201d<\/p>\n
John Foreman, the UK defence attache to Moscow until 2022, said that Ukraine was one of \u201cmany sticks Trump could use to beat the Europeans into agreeing to handover Greenland\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe could cut off intelligence sharing, provision of advice, stop the purchase of US arms and walk away from peace discussions leaving Europe owning the problem,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
It was a view shared by former defence minister Tobias Ellwood, who said: \u201cThere\u2019s a tectonic shift in relationships taking place that Europe doesn\u2019t quite fully yet comprehend. Trump is on a mission, and he will use coercion to try to achieve it.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ellwood added that Trump is likely to deploy more troops to Greenland despite his comments ruling out force, as he has the power to do so under the existing terms of the US treaty with Denmark. <\/p>\n
Starmer in rare attack on Trump<\/p>\n
Sir Keir Starmer delivered a rare attack against the US President during Prime Minister\u2019s Questions over his attempts to seize Greenland, with the Prime Minister insisting he \u201cwill not yield\u201d over the issue.<\/p>\n
Starmer is expected to use Downing Street talks with Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen on Thursday to make a public show of support of Denmark and Greenland.<\/p>\n
The PM is also likely to continue scoping out what compromises Denmark and Greenland might be willing to make to construct an off-ramp from the row for Trump, although the island\u2019s sovereignty is an absolute red line.<\/p>\n
As The i Paper revealed this week, efforts continue to be made to show that Europe takes Arctic security seriously and can defend Greenland.<\/p>\n
It is understood that a key aspect of this includes convincing Trump that if he puts assets like \u201cGolden Dome\u201d missile defence on the island, they will be kept safe and secure.<\/p>\n
A Whitehall source said: \u201cThis is a position [annexing Greenland] we fundamentally disagree with and have made that quite widely known.<\/p>\n
\t\tYour next read<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t![\"Article](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769025316_103_GettyImages-538133210.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cBut at the same time we want to give everybody an off-ramp on this without escalating.<\/p>\n
\u201cSovereignty is not up for negotiation so the question is where you find the landing strip without escalating.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some in the UK Government believe the more radical elements of Trump\u2019s administration and the Republican movement currently have his ear, and that other aspects of the US government are more sympathetic to the European position.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The US President ruled out taking Arctic island by force, but his demands have sparked a diplomatic frenzy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":711477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7654],"tags":[365,32,2000,299,366,2821,657,659],"class_list":{"0":"post-711476","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ukraine","8":"tag-denmark","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-greenland","13":"tag-nato","14":"tag-ukraine","15":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115934850325671591","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=711476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/711477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}