Europe’s top leaders rally to defend Greenland against Trump’s threats

The wife of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller posted at Social Media a map of Greenland on social media, colored in the colors of the American flag. "Coming soon," she captioned her post.

8 European leaders say only Denmark and Greenland can determine the future of the giant Arctic island, POLITICO writes.

Eight of Europe's top leaders have rallied to defend the autonomous Danish territory of Greenland amid growing threats from President Donald Trump's administration that the U.S. could seize the mineral-rich Arctic island.

In a statement, the European leaders insisted Greenland's security must be ensured collectively by NATO and with full respect to the wishes of its people.

"Security in the Arctic must be ... achieved collectively, in conjunction with NATO allies including the United States by upholding the principles of the UN Charter, including sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of borders," the leaders wrote in a statement hours after Trump said Washington "needs" Greenland.

The statement was signed by Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof tweeted afterward that the Netherlands "fully supports" the statement.

The show of support for Denmark comes after Trump doubled down on his claims to the Danish-held territory following a U.S. operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

On Monday, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller questioned Copenhagen's claim over the territory, but declined to clarify whether the United States could use force to achieve its aims. Trump has also accused Denmark of doing too little to ensure Greenland's security. Trump said: "They added one more dog sled."

In response, the leaders stated: "NATO has made clear that the Arctic region is a priority and European Allies are stepping up. We and many other Allies have increased our presence, activities and investments, to keep the Arctic safe and to deter adversaries. The Kingdom of Denmark — including Greenland — is part of NATO."

Fredriksen warned on Monday that a U.S. invasion of Greenland would spell the end of NATO.

European leaders from Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Poland, Denmark and the United Kingdom have vowed they'll continue to protect the sovereignty of Greenland after Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump's chief of staff, suggested nobody would “fight the US militarily” over the future of the territory, FORBS reports.

The heads of all seven countries said they would "not stop defending" the principles of the UN Charter in respect to Greenland, including "sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders," calling on the U.S. to honor its duty to do the same as a member of NATO.

The group’s statement comes after Miller, in an interview with CNN, said it would be easy for the U.S. to take control of the island nation because of its small population.

He did not say the idea of the U.S. taking Greenland by force was off the table but said there is “no need to even think or talk about” a military operation in Greenland because “nobody is going to fight the US militarily” for the island, which is technically a self-governing country within the Kingdom of Denmark.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said any operation to seize Greenland would be an unprecedented attack on a fellow NATO member, and threaten the global peace alliance that has stood for almost 80 years.

Trump has long suggested he’d like to make Greenland a part of the United States, but his comments were always taken with a grain of salt as Danish and Greenlandic leaders rebuffed his offers to buy the territory. After Trump followed through on threats to topple Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in a surprise raid last week, however, European leaders are scrambling to make clear they support the sovereignty of Denmark and the island. Leaders from a dozen countries, including British prime minister Keir Starmer, on Monday expressed concern about Trump’s desire to control the island and Anitta Hipper, foreign policy spokesperson for the European Union, told reporters the EU will "not stop defending" the principle of national sovereignty."

Why Does Trump Want To Acquire Greenland?

Several reasons. Greenland’s physical location has become increasingly important from a geopolitical standpoint in recent years as new North Atlantic shipping lanes, made possible by the melting of the Arctic Circle, have drawn interest from Russia and China. Trump has said Denmark is not spending enough to safeguard the island, and that it’s “surrounded by Russian and Chinese ships.” The U.S. already has a military base in Greenland—Vice President JD Vance visited in March—but control of the island would strengthen America’s position in the Arctic region. The island also has huge stores of rare-earth minerals and its continental shelf could hold huge oil and gas deposits, scientists say.

Trump setting his sights on Greenland is an example of a larger shift in America's global role under the current administration, as explained by Miller in his CNN interview Monday. “We live in a world in which you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else, but we live in a world… that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power,” he said. “These are the iron laws of the world.” His comments were backed up by the State Department on Monday, which posted to social media a photo of a serious-looking Trump with the caption: "This is OUR Hemisphere, and President Trump will not allow our security to be threatened."

The American consulate in Nuuk, Greenland
Photo: Zuma Press

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers that recent administration threats against Greenland didn’t signal an imminent invasion and that the goal is to buy the island from Denmark, according to people familiar with the discussions, ‘The Wall Street Journal’ writes.

Rubio’s statements, which were made Monday during a closed briefing, come as the White House has been offering increasingly belligerent statements about controlling the island. President Trump and senior administration officials have publicly declined to rule out seizing the territory by force.

“President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States, and it’s vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the U.S. military is always an option at the commander in chief’s disposal.”

It is unclear if Rubio sought to assuage lawmakers’ concerns, but the Trump administration has long signaled it sought to persuade Denmark to hand over control of Greenland, the world’s largest island. U.S. and European officials say they have seen no signs of the White House preparing a military invasion of Greenland.

Some U.S. lawmakers and European officials are concerned that the recent American military operation to oust Maduro, along with U.S. strikes in Nigeria and Iran, indicate Trump is more open to using force than at any other time in his two presidencies.

But Frederiksen was far more blunt and direct Monday, telling local broadcaster DR that “everything would come to an end” if the U.S. attacked a NATO country to seize Greenland. “The international community as we know it, democratic rules of the game, NATO, the world’s strongest defensive alliance — all of that would collapse if one NATO country chose to attack another.”

Polling shows that most Greenlanders are opposed to becoming a part of the U.S., WSJ notes.

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