European leaders were used to Trump's tough guy politics, but Greenland really got them rattled

European leaders are grappling with a new level of unease toward Washington amid fears the U.S. could use military force to gain control of Greenland, the vast Arctic territory that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark – a country in Northern Europe and part of the European Union. 

Since President Donald Trump’s return to office a year ago, a series of policy decisions and presidential declarations have made leaders increasingly wary about the reliability of their ties with the U.S. – starting with import tariffs and continuing through defense spending, backing for Ukraine in its war against Russia, policy toward Israel in its war in Gaza, and now the U.S. military operation in Venezuela.

But the recent rhetoric over Greenland – including Trump saying the U.S. “needs" Greenland for national security reasons and the specter that he might take it by force – has driven Europe to next-level wariness.

“European leaders have had to rethink their relationship with the U.S. repeatedly this year,” Oliviero Fiorini, political affairs analyst with ABS Securities in Milan, told Just the News. “Each time there’s something new they think it can’t be more strained. But then something new happens.”

European leaders wasted no time in moving from alarm to a collective response in the wake of Trump’s comments on Greenland.

On Wednesday, the leaders of Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the U.K. – all full members of NATO, including four of the pact’s 12 founding members – issued a strongly worded joint declaration affirming that “Greenland belongs to its people. It is for Denmark and Greenland, and for them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”

The statement from European leaders also discussed the importance of respecting territorial integrity, sovereign decision-making, and international law in what was a clear rebuke to any potential unilateral U.S. designs on the Arctic territory.

Greenland is a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, a relationship that is broadly similar to the one linking Puerto Rico and the U.S. The United States has operated the Pituffik military base in northern Greenland since 1951, but that presence is based on an agreement between the two countries, not U.S. ownership of the land.

Greenland’s strategic importance is high because of its access to the Arctic, its potential role in tracking missiles headed to the U.S. from the north, and the melting of previously ice-covered sea transport lanes.

In her own statement, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was even more pointed, stating that a U.S. attempt to seize Greenland would destroy NATO, the 77-year-old alliance first created to counter the influence of the USSR and of which Denmark and the United States are member states.

“If the United States chooses to attack another NATO country, then everything stops … including NATO and the security it has provided since the end of World War II,” Frederiksen said.

That might not be a disincentive for Trump, who has in the past hinted the U.S. might one day leave NATO. More recently, White House officials have repeatedly said that military operations are “always an option” when it comes to Greenland.

But Trump’s ideas are not universally opposed. 

On Thursday, Pele Broberg, the leader of a Greenland opposition party, said that Greenland should at least discuss options with the U.S. on its own. Broberg’s party, Naleraq, is a strong advocate of Greenland’s separation from its parent country.

“We encourage our current [Greenlandic] government to actually have a dialogue with the U.S. government without Denmark,” Broberg said. “Denmark is antagonizing both Greenland and the U.S. with their mediation.”

The U.S. military budget is nearly twice the combined military budget of the 27 member states of the European Union plus the U.K.

In 2024, the last year with complete data available, the U.S. spent $884 billion on its military, compared to a combined $400 billion for the 27 European Union member states and an additional $82 billion for the U.K.,  which is not a member of the European Union.