WASHINGTON/COPENHAGEN/NUUK (dpa-AFX) – US President Donald Trump is threatening countries that oppose his claim to ownership of Greenland with tariffs. He may impose tariffs on such countries because the US needs Greenland for its national security, Trump said at the White House in Washington. At first he wasn’t more specific. He had previously spoken about how, in other contexts, he had threatened European countries such as Germany and France with tariffs to advance his interests.
Several US parliamentarians criticized Trump’s claims to the Arctic island during a trip to Denmark. “Greenland should be seen as an ally, not a possession,” Republican U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski said at a news conference at the Danish Parliament building in Copenhagen.
Trump’s Greenland plans have been causing unrest in NATO for days. Germany and other European members of the defense alliance now want to ensure more security on the huge Arctic island. A team of Bundeswehr 15 soldiers reached the capital Nuuk in the afternoon (local time).
The largely autonomous Greenland is part of the territory of Denmark. Trump has made it clear several times that the USA wants to take over the island, which is largely covered by ice. The European NATO partners reject this.
Crisis discussion with no tangible result
Crisis talks between the USA, Denmark and Greenland ended without any tangible results. Trump argues that Greenland must belong to the USA so that the Russians and Chinese do not gain additional influence in the region.
On Wednesday, Germany and other NATO countries announced a fact-finding mission for possible military exercises in Greenland. The mission is led by Denmark. Norway, Sweden, Finland, Great Britain, France and the Netherlands, among others, are sending soldiers.
The question is whether the Arctic is safe and to what extent Germany and its NATO partners can contribute to this, said a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense in Berlin. He mentioned naval reconnaissance flights, sending German frigates to monitor the sea or relocating Eurofighters as options.
The US government was unimpressed by the deployment. “I don’t believe that soldiers in Europe influence the president’s decision-making process or that it has any bearing on his goal of acquiring Greenland,” Trump administration spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Thursday.
Threats from Russia and China? “Not at the moment”
Meanwhile, the US parliamentarians in Denmark tried to de-escalate in discussions with Danish and Greenlandic colleagues. We want to take their perspectives with us to the USA in order to “lower the temperature” in the currently heated debate, said the Democratic Senator from Delaware, Chris Coons. Alluding to one of Trump’s reasons for the need for a US takeover of Greenland, Coons said: “Are there threats to Greenland’s security from Russia and China? No, not at this time.”
The majority of Germans see NATO in danger
According to a survey, the majority of Germans believe that the US President’s policies endanger the continued existence of NATO. 78 percent of those surveyed agree with this assessment, 18 percent do not believe it. This emerges from the current ZDF “Politbarometer”. The rest of the respondents answered “don’t know.”
Trump’s statements are particularly concerning because he has not yet ruled out military coercion in order to gain control over Greenland. The island is six times the size of Germany, but only has around 57,000 inhabitants.
Italy, a founding NATO member, does not want to send soldiers to the exploratory mission with other European partner states. Defense Minister Guido Crosetto called this a “joke”. At the same time, the right-wing government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni presented its own Arctic strategy.
If the worst comes to the worst, EU states would have to come to Denmark’s aid
A spokeswoman for the EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas made it clear: In the event of a violent conflict over Greenland, Germany and the other EU states could have to provide assistance at Denmark’s request.
Greenland is part of the territory of the Kingdom of Denmark and therefore fundamentally falls under the mutual solidarity clause in Article 42 paragraph 7 of the EU Treaty, said the spokeswoman for the German Press Agency. At the same time, she said that the question of an application does not currently arise. In principle, a military confrontation is considered very unlikely because nobody would probably take on the most powerful military force in the world.
Russian ambassador accuses NATO of militarizing the Arctic
The Russian ambassador in Denmark accuses NATO of wanting to arm itself in the Arctic in view of US claims on Greenland. NATO countries, including Denmark, were using the specter of a Russian or Chinese threat on a large scale to militarize the Arctic, Vladimir Barbin told the Russian state news agency Tass. Denmark is pursuing a confrontational approach “by involving NATO” in the Arctic.
Russia, with its long northern coast on the Arctic Ocean, considers the Arctic to be its sphere of interest. It is increasingly using the region’s sea routes and expanding its military presence.
Joke about Iceland in a tense diplomatic situation
Meanwhile, there is anger in Iceland after US Ambassador-designate Billy Long made a supposedly joking statement that the island in the North Atlantic could become a US state. As several media outlets reported, Iceland’s foreign ministry asked the US embassy there for clarification.
“Politico” had previously reported that the former Republican congressman, nominated by Trump as ambassador, joked that Iceland could become the 52nd US state – and he could become its governor. In Iceland, citizens then started a petition calling on Foreign Minister Katrín Gunnarsdóttir to reject Long as ambassador./toz/DP/stw