Confronted over Greenland, Europe is ditching its softly-softly approach to Trump

Something in Europe has snapped. On Monday night, Donald Trump remarked that the US has to have Greenland for national security reasons. He said that Europe's leaders aren't going to "push back too much. However, that is not the strategy they have in mind when they meet with the US president at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Wednesday. Greenland is a semi-autonomous region of Denmark, and it is both a member of the EU and Nato. President Trump is now leaning heavily on Denmark's allies, who are planning to leave Copenhagen and allow the US to take over Greenland, or face punitive duty on all exports to the United States. It's a scary situation for European economies, especially those that are heavily dependent on exporting to the United States, such as Germany's automotive indUStry and Italy's luxury products indUStry.

After an emergency meeting with his French counterpart ahead of the WEF, Germany's finance minister said on Monday,

we will not allow ourselves to be blackmailed. The Trump threats came as a slap in the face of EUropean governments, who (in the case of the EU and the UK) had only recently reached tariff discUSsions with the US president last year.

We're living through uncharted territories. We've never seen this before. According to France's Finance Minister Roland Lescure, an ally, a friend of 250 years, is considering tariffs. As a geopolitical weapon. A line has been crossed, his German counterpart Lars Klingbeil said. I'm not saying anything about what will happen today, so you'll know that I'll not tell you what will be the However, one thing must be made: Europe must be prepared. "All of a sudden, the softly-softly approach to Trump, which Europe's leaders had clearly favoured since he returned for a second term to the White House, seems to have passed its sell-by date.

Europe's good cop, bad cop approach

It's too early to read the last rites on transatlantic relations, but the EU, at least, is hoping to approach the US president in Switzerland this Wednesday, speaking softly, not carrying a huge stick to depose a former US president. Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt believed that diplomacy backed by solid authority is essential to achieve your objectives. And Europe now seems to be adopting a smart cop, bad cop strategy. European leaders have told President Trump that they will help him prioritizing Arctic safety, so there is no need for him to go it alone over Greenland. At the same time, EU diplomats have confirmed that they are considering adding €93 billion (£80 billion) tariffs to US exports, as well as banning the entry of American companies, perhaps including banks and high tech firms, to the bloc's huge single market, as long as they are known. These retaliatory steps will almost certainly have a knock-on effect on American consumers. European Union investors have a large presence in almost all 50 US states and are believed to be responsible for recruiting 3. 4 million Americans. On the international stage of international diplomacy, the EU has a weak presence. The bloc is made up of 27 often bickering countries. However, it has a clout when it comes to the global economy and trade, where the EUropean Commission's decisions are largely taken on behalf of EU single market members. The European Union is the world's largest exporter of products and services, accounting for nearly 16% of world trade in 2024. So, BrUSsels is hoping that President Trump will rise from his maximalist role and find a compromise solution, although he may lose close allies (EUrope) and be seen as responsible for US consumer prices increasing (becaUSe of EU retaliatory tariffs). Our highest priority is to engage, not rise, EU Commission deputy spokesperson Olof Gill said on Monday.

Trump is causing the Europeans to develop a spine,

Niclas Poitiers, an economist and expert in international trade at the Brussels-based Bruegel think tank, says. [While] the damage caused by [Trump's] tariffs is very manageable for Europe, [Trumped's], tariffs are still very manageible for Europe. "The EU cannot afford not to react.

Trust in US security guarantees

However, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent seemed less empressed on Monday than the previoUS one.

The president is considering Greenland as a strategic asset for the United States,

he painted a portrait of a US president with his mind set in Davos. We are not going to outsource our hemispheric defense to anyone else. Retaliation by Europe tariffs would beunwise,

he warned. And here Europe feels stuck. Damned if it takes action. Damned if it doesn't. Some in Europe are concerned that if they are now more confrontational with Trump, they could also alienate the US further. And here's the hard truth: Europe needs Washington to ensure a sustainable peace agreement for Ukraine and its own continental stability. Despite promising more defense, Europe is still heavily dependent on the United States. On Monday, while also reaffirming his support for Danish and Greenlandic sovereignty, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said it was in the UK's

national interest

to continue to collaborate with the Americans on defense, intelligence, and intelligence.

Our nuclear deterrence is our foremost weapon. My primary responsibility, which requires us to have a positive relationship with the US, is to prevent a deterrent when it comes to protecting the wellbeing of everyone in the United Kingdom. However, if Europe continues to manage president Trump, rather than stand up to him, when he is jeopardizing the integrity of his Nato ally (Denmark) and enforcing economic sanctions against other allies if they support Copenhagen.

We have no desire to pick a war, but we will stand firm,

Kaja Kallas, the EU's top diplomat, said on X on Monday. As a former prime minister of Estonia, a country that is concerned about the looming shadow of an expansionist Russia, she is keen to tell Moscow that Europe can - and will bare its teeth if pressed. Tara Varma told me,

Europeans can't shy away any more. She works at the German Marshall Fund, a think tank and geopolitics expert.

They tried personal diplomacy alone [with Donald Trump] over the past year in order to ensure Ukraine's collective defense and guaranteeing Ukraine''s stability after a ceasefire with Russia," she said. However, if he does turn around (as he always has), referring to economic and security issues, and threatening Nato, he says how much faith will Europe have in US security guarantees under this administration?

Putin and the Board of Peace

This is not only Russia, but China is watching all this from the sidelines. The West, who has traditionally seen the US and Europe tightly knit at its center, and has been dominant for decades in global politics, is now unraveling. A growing number of major powers, including Russia and China, are increasingly ruled by a few major powers such as Russia and Beijing, but also India, Saudi Arabia, and, to a large extent, Brazil. China hopes that Donald Trump's apparent flurry with his allies will make Beijing appear as a more reliable, reliable partner, and boost foreign trade in the region. Canada, which President Trump had threatened to make the country's 51st state, has jUSt signed a limited trade agreement with Beijing. It's trying to minimize its exposure to Washington, D. C. The US president has also shown no concern for multilateral organizations like Nato and the United Nations Nations, which were established by western powers after the second world war, to control global order. Some points to the Board of Peace that President Trump is now establishing, as well as that he intends to hold a signing ceremony in Davos on Thursday. Several world leaders and top corporate figures are among the conference's speakers. Following Israel's devastating two-year war aimed at destroying Hamas following Israel''s attack on Israel on October 7th 2023, the Board is ostensibly designed to monitor Gaza's reconstruction. However, the Board's charter calls for

a more nimble and effective international peace-building body,

implying that its mandate would be much larger, perhaps to rival the UNited Nations. That's how France's President sees it. On Monday, a source close to Emmanuel Macron said that France did not intend to accept an invitation that, along with many nations, it had received to join the Board of Peace. The [Board's] Charter.The document states that raises significant concerns, particularly regarding the respect for the United Nations' principles and structure, which cannot be challenged under any circumstances. Despite Moscow's four-year war on Ukraine and the Kremlin's refUSal to accept a US-backed peace plan, Vladimir Putin was also invited to join the Board on Monday, indicating that Trump intends to keep links with the RUSsian president. More questions have been raised about Trump's overarching role on the Board and his insistence that world leaders pay $1 billion for permanent membership. Tara Varma, on the other hand, maintains that the Peace Board isn't concerned about stability.

How can it be if you invite figures like Putin to participate in it?

Trump wants to be seen as a peacemaker. He wants the headlines, but without doing the hard work, the groundwork needed for peace to be sustainable. His is more of a hit-and-run game plan. "He can't replace multilateral institutions like the UN that have existed for 80 years.

Relations are strained but not broken

However, President Trump, with his flouting of decades-old international laws, is possibly shaking some of these multilateral organizations a bit, encouraging or even causing them to restructure and become more relevant. The UNited Nations security coUNcil's membership should UNquestionably be less western-centric and more representative of shifts in global power structures. The European members of Nato have confirmed that they ought to be paying more for their own defense. Although Trump isn't the first US president to say that they should, he's not the first to mention that they shouldn't, though he is It was after Trump threatened that if the United States could no longer protect nations that didn't pay their way that the US could no more protect nations who didn's pay their own that it was revealed that all Nato members, except Spain, agreed to significantly raise According to Greenland, 55% of Americans don't want to buy the island, while 86% oppose a military takeover by the United States. On Capitol Hill, Denmark and other European powers have been lobbying lawmakers to warn that Greenlandic and Danish sovereignty must be protected. Transatlantic relations aren't broken yet, although they are tampered with. Donald Trump is still picking up the phone from his Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni to actor Starmer and Nato's Secretary General Mark Rutte. Lines of communication are still open. However, if Europeans want to crack through with Donald Trump, they will have to work together. Not just the EU's disparate member states, not just Nato: all countries are united. And the United Kingdom's closer link with the US will be vital here. However, Europe's leaders are torn between wanting to do what they see as right internationally and their own domestic concerns. If a full-fledged transatlantic trade war broke out, it would have harmed their voters. If you're looking for a unique way to represent Greenland for any length of time, it's likely to be difficult. Top image credit: Getty Images and Getty/Bloomberg/Lightrocket is a publication that publishes news about the day's most important topics. Every Saturday, Emma Barnett and John Simpson discuss their pick of the most thought-provoking deep reads and analysis.