Europe has rarely spoken with one voice or reacted with such urgency.
But US President Donald Trump’s announcement on Saturday of sanctions against several European countries that reject US claims to Danish Greenland was one of those moments.
An emergency meeting of EU ambassadors will be held in Brussels on Sunday in response to a threat made by President Trump after an estimated quarter of the population of Greenland’s capital Nuuk took part in protests against potential annexation.
Across the continent, the reaction was immediate and emphatic, even among allies who normally respond cautiously to White House statements, recognizing an existential threat to the Atlantic alliance.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who has sought to build a good personal relationship with Trump, led the charge, calling the tariff threat “unacceptable.”
“When we face such a situation, no intimidation or threat will affect us, whether in Ukraine, Greenland or anywhere in the world,” he said in X.
“If approved, European countries will respond in a united and coordinated manner. We will ensure that Europe’s sovereignty is upheld.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer echoed this sentiment, saying in a statement: “It is completely wrong to impose tariffs on our NATO allies in the pursuit of their collective security.”
Even Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who usually has a good relationship with the US president, called the move a “mistake” in a handout during a state visit to South Korea.
Meloni said he had already spoken by phone with President Trump and said he “doesn’t agree” with the idea of imposing tariffs on countries that contribute to Greenland’s security.
Eight European countries, including the UK, Germany and France, issued a joint statement on Sunday saying: “The threat of tariffs threatens to undermine transatlantic relations and risks sending us into a dangerous downward spiral. We will continue to respond unitedly and collaboratively.”
In a lengthy social media post on Saturday, President Trump said the United States needed Greenland to counter threats from China and Russia in the Arctic and develop what he called a Golden Dome to protect North America from ballistic missiles.
Experts say the United States does not need to own Greenland for the dome to be effective, thanks to a 1951 treaty that gives the United States the right to build defense facilities there.
Pitafik Space Station, which U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance visited last March, focuses on missile warning, space surveillance, and satellite command and control missions.
European politicians said Trump’s unilateralism over Greenland and his treatment of longtime allies played into the hands of Russia and China.
“China and Russia must be in a tizzy. They are the ones who benefit from the division between the allies,” said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kalas.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez took a similar approach. In an interview with Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, he said any U.S. military action against Denmark’s vast Arctic island would damage NATO and please Russian President Vladimir Putin.
That would make Putin “the happiest man in the world. Why? Because it would justify his attempt to invade Ukraine,” he said.
“If the United States uses force, it will be the death knell for NATO. President Putin will be doubly happy,” Sanchez warned.
“The measures announced today against our NATO allies will not help ensure the security of the Arctic,” European Parliament President Roberta Mezzola said in X. “They run the opposite risk, emboldening our common enemies and those who seek to destroy our common values and way of life.”
One casualty of the tariff threat may be the US-EU trade deal agreed last year, which was due to be debated in the European Parliament this week. “Given Donald Trump’s threats regarding Greenland, recognition is not possible at this stage,” Manfred Weber, leader of the largest parliamentary group, told X.
There were numerous times during both Trump administrations when European governments were so spooked by the White House’s rhetoric that they resorted to cautious damage limitation.
But many Europeans are aware that the second Trump administration has taken a much tougher tone, starting with a speech at the Munich Security Conference last February when Mr. Vance accused Europe of being soft on woke immigrants and anti-democratic.
President Trump’s National Security Strategy released in November added to that disdain. “It is far from clear whether any particular European nation will have a strong enough economy and military to remain a reliable ally 20 years from now,” the report said.
The document derides the “obvious prospect of the erasure of civilization” in Europe, alleging “censorship of free speech and repression of political opposition, soaring birth rates, loss of national identity and self-confidence”.
And earlier this month, President Trump’s chief of staff Stephen Miller told CNN’s Jake Tapper: “We live in a world, a real world, that is ruled by force, ruled by force, ruled by force.”
“For the United States to secure the Arctic region and protect and defend NATO and NATO interests, clearly Greenland should be part of the United States,” Miller added.
Essentially, in this White House, a strong transatlantic relationship is no longer considered important to U.S. national security or domination of the Western Hemisphere.
But the powerful words from Europe’s capitals are spot on. The challenge is to build greater self-reliance in defense and security, a process that will take decades, not months.
On the other hand, some may recall then-British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s outrage over the D-Day plan, the operation to liberate Western Europe from Nazi Germany.
“The only thing worse than fighting with allies is fighting without allies,” Churchill later said.
