US President Trump is “very serious” about Greenland position, global affairs expert says
US President Trump is “very serious” about Greenland position, global affairs expert says
01:00
Europe should manage its relationship with the United States to protect the partnership beyond the presidential term of Donald Trump, rather than seeking independence from the nation, according to the CEO of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
Speaking with CNN’s Rosemary Church on Wednesday, the organization’s president Leslie Vinjamuri said that while she believes Trump is “very serious” about his position on Greenland, the next step for Europe is “managing and delaying and kicking this issue down the road” for as long as possible.
European leaders have scrambled to exercise damage control as Trump’s threats of military action in Greenland, and tariffs on NATO nations who oppose him, have intensified. But Vinjamuri said this has been a challenge for Europe.
“Europeans are clearly individually seeking to build resilience domestically to align with each other. That’s been very difficult to do,” the CEO said of Europe’s effort to safeguard against the pressure leveraged by Trump.
She added, “There’s been real movement in Europe, but unfortunately, during this president’s term, the likelihood that Europeans will develop the capabilities that they need … to be fully independent in a meaningful way from the United States is quite low.”
Vinjamuri said Europe should concentrate on nurturing its relationship with powerful figures throughout the country who she said are both in and out of government, “Those are the relationships that Europeans … should be focusing on, because this relationship will continue long past Donald Trump.”