For Europe, it was first a surprise and then a shock. During his first term, Donald Trump had shown interest in buying Greenland, an autonomous Arctic island that’s part of Denmark. When Mr. Trump, after returning to the White House last year, said “we are going to have Greenland one way or the other”, many thought he was not serious.
Trump Greenland LIVE on January 20, 2026
But after the January 3 U.S. attack on Venezuela and the capture of President Nicolas Maduro, Mr. Trump escalated his claims over Greenland. If the U.S. doesn’t take control of the island, Russia or China will, he said. Mr. Trump’s repeated statements have thrown transatlantic cooperation into disarray. Tensions reached a new peak on January 17, when Mr. Trump imposed a 10% tariff on eight European countries, including Denmark, Germany, France and the U.K. He said the tariffs would be raised to 25% on June 1 and would remain in place until the U.S.’ “complete and total purchase of Greenland”.
While there were tensions in transatlantic relations in the past — notably during the Suez crisis of 1956 or the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 — this is the first time tensions have reached the level of open hostility. Here what makes the current crisis more severe is that it was triggered by a push from the U.S., a country that has been Europe’s primary security guarantor since the end of the Second World War, to take control of a European territory.
Threat from within
To place the crisis in context: Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark, which is one of the founding members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). NATO, arguably the world’s most powerful military alliance, is built on the principle of collective defence — that an attack against one member would be considered an attack against all. This framework functioned effectively during the Cold War as a deterrent against the Soviet Union. European countries have also presented NATO as a bulwark against Vladimir Putin’s Russia. But here, the threat to Denmark’s sovereignty doesn’t come from outside the alliance, but from within it — from NATO’s most powerful member, the U.S.
On Tuesday (January 20, 2026), Mr. Trump fired off a series of social media posts, ahead of a meeting with European leaders in Davos on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, saying there is no going back on Greenland, which he said is “imperative for national and world security”. Greenland’s location between North America and the Arctic makes it strategically placed for early warning systems in the event of missile attacks, and for monitoring vessels in the region. The island also has vast untapped resources. Greenland is estimated to have 36 million tonnes of rare earths—an area which is currently dominated by China.
The U.S. has a military base on the island, called Pituffik, where more than 100 personnel are permanently stationed. Under existing agreements with Denmark, the U.S. can send as many troops as it wants to Greenland. But Mr. Trump doesn’t seem to be happy with the existing agreement. He wants to make the island an American territory. On Tuesday (January 20, 2026), he shared a generated image of himself placing an American flag in Greenland beside a board that reads, “Greenland: US territory; Est. 2026”.
Between Russia and America
European leaders have protested Mr. Trump’s decision to impose tariffs over Greenland. But it is not clear whether they would retaliate in kind. Europe appears to be in a strategically weakened position, caught between Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and America’s push to take over Greenland.
For decades, Europe has been heavily dependent on the U.S. for security. The U.S. accounts for roughly two-thirds of NATO’s military spending, and provides most of the alliance’s missile defence, nuclear umbrella (along with Britain and France) and long-range precision capabilities. The Supreme Allied Commander Europe, the highest military commander in NATO, is always an American General, and many European militaries are interoperable with U.S. systems by design. The U.S. operates at least 37 military bases in Europe, hosting roughly 80,000 soldiers.
Most European countries have pledged to increase defence spending, but it will take years before they build the capacity to stand on their own. In the meantime, they need the U.S. and NATO for security. That dependency has only deepened since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Europe has adopted a strong moral and strategic position against Russia, and has, until now, opposed major Ukrainian concessions to Moscow for peace. But if Europe wants Ukraine to continue to fight the invasion, it also needs sustained America’s support—what Keir Starmer, the British Prime Minister, described as the “backstop”. Mr. Trump, who has always been sceptical of NATO, understands this leverage.
Few good options
Mr. Trump is not interested in a prolonged confrontation with Russia. His immediate strategic focus, per his National Security Strategy, is on the Western Hemisphere and long-term focus is on China. Europe, in his worldview, is steadily losing its strategic relevance.
Mr. Trump says he is committed to NATO. But he wants NATO to help him take over Greenland, violating the sovereignty of a European NATO member. In effect, he is turning NATO against NATO, seeking to extract a major territorial concession from Europe. Unable to secure peace with Russia and increasingly dependent on NATO (U.S.) at a time of war in eastern Europe, European leaders are left with few good options when it comes to dealing with Mr. Trump’s threats.
Published – January 20, 2026 06:07 pm IST
