{"id":419483,"date":"2026-01-20T21:37:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T21:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/419483\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T21:37:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T21:37:16","slug":"europe-condemns-trumps-new-colonialism-as-greenland-crisis-grows-european-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/419483\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe condemns Trump\u2019s \u2018new colonialism\u2019 as Greenland crisis grows | European Union"},"content":{"rendered":"

European leaders have lined up to condemn Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cnew colonialism\u201d and warn that the continent was facing a crossroads as the US president said there was no going back on his goal of controlling Greenland.<\/p>\n

After weeks of aggressive threats by Trump to seize the vast Arctic island, which is a largely autonomous part of Denmark<\/a>, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said on Tuesday he preferred \u201crespect to bullies\u201d and the \u201crule of law to brutality\u201d.<\/p>\n

Macron told the World Economic Forum<\/a> in Davos, Switzerland, that now was \u201cnot a time for new imperialism or new colonialism\u201d, criticising the \u201cuseless aggressivity\u201d of Trump\u2019s pledge to levy tariffs on countries that opposed a US takeover of Greenland.<\/p>\n

The US was seeking to \u201cweaken and subordinate Europe\u201d by demanding \u201cmaximum concessions\u201d and imposing tariffs that were \u201cfundamentally unacceptable \u2013 even more so when they are used as leverage against territorial sovereignty\u201d, he said, wearing sunglasses because of an eye condition.<\/p>\n

\"MacronMacron tells Davos of shift towards ‘a world without rules’ \u2013 video<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s push for Greenland has intensified in recent weeks, with the president saying the US would take control of the vast Arctic island \u201cone way or the other\u201d<\/a> and: \u201cNow it is time, and it will be done!!!\u201d He is expected to visit Davos and give a speech on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said Trump\u2019s threat to impose a 10% tariff<\/a> on imports from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Finland unless they dropped their objections to his plans was \u201ca mistake\u201d.<\/p>\n

Appearing to call Trump\u2019s trustworthiness into question, she also noted the EU and US had \u201cagreed to a trade deal last July, and in politics, as in business, a deal is a deal. When friends shake hands, it must mean something.\u201d<\/p>\n

Europeans, she added, \u201cconsider the people of the US not just our allies, but our friends\u201d. She warned against plunging relations into \u201ca downward spiral\u201d, but said the EU\u2019s response, if necessary, would be \u201cunflinching, united and proportional\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"VonVon der Leyen urges European independence in response to ‘seismic change’ \u2013 video<\/p>\n

Belgium\u2019s prime minister, Bart De Wever, said Europe was \u201cat a crossroads\u201d and \u201cso many red lines are being crossed\u201d by Trump that the continent had to stand up for itself or \u201close its dignity \u2026 The most precious thing you can have in a democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

De Wever said he would \u201clike to confirm that [the US] is an ally, but they have to behave like an ally\u201d. Eighty years of Atlanticism could be coming to an end, he said. \u201cA Nato country is threatening another Nato country with military invasion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump posted on social media on Tuesday that during a call with the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, he had \u201cexpressed \u2026 very plainly, Greenland<\/a> is imperative for National and World Security. There can be no going back.\u201d<\/p>\n

He posted an AI image of himself, the US vice-president, JD Vance, and the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, planting a US flag next to a sign reading: \u201cGreenland, US territory est. 2026.\u201d Another image showed a map with Canada and Greenland as part of the US.<\/p>\n

Separately, the US president posted a message to him from Macron, who said he did \u201cnot understand what you are doing on Greenland\u201d. The US president had earlier threatened to hit French wine and champagne with a 200% tariff if Macron did not accept an invite to join his \u201cBoard of Peace\u201d.<\/p>\n

The spiralling row has plunged trade relations between the EU and the US into fresh chaos, forcing the bloc to consider retaliatory measures, and also risks unravelling the Nato transatlantic alliance that has guaranteed western security for decades.<\/p>\n

The Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, fresh from a trip to Beijing to forge a new Canada-China partnership, told Davos<\/a> the world\u2019s \u201cmiddle powers\u201d need to work together to build a better world order.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems that every day we are reminded that we live in an era of great power rivalry. That the rules-based order is fading,\u201d Carney said in a speech that ended with a standing ovation.<\/p>\n

Carney said the world faces \u201cthe end of a pleasant fiction and the dawn of a harsh reality of geopolitics\u201d in which the great powers are unconstrained. \u201cWe know the old order is not coming back. We shouldn\u2019t mourn it. Nostalgia is not a strategy\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

UK prime minister Keir Starmer\u2019s response to Trump\u2019s Greenland threats has been more muted than those of his French and Canadian counterparts, but it has shifted slightly from his usually deeply cautious approach towards the US president.<\/p>\n

He told his cabinet on Tuesday that US tariffs were \u201cthe wrong thing to do\u201d, while his government is pressing ahead with plans – criticised by the US president as an \u201cact of great stupidity\u201d – to cede the Chagos islands to Mauritius.<\/p>\n

While Starmer\u2019s strategy to deal with Trump – maintaining a steady approach in the face of the chaos the US president has unfurled – is being called into question at home, sources said he for now has his cabinet\u2019s backing. \u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019d gain very much from attacks just to get some headlines for a day or two, only to cause irreparable damage to a partnership that\u2019s so important to us,\u201d one said. In what appeared to be an attempt to smooth over US-UK relations, the US House speaker Mike Johnson told parliament that he had spoken \u201cat length\u201d to Trump yesterday on Monday – and that his mission in London was to \u201chelp calm the waters\u201d.<\/p>\n

Trump is due to be at the WEF gathering with EU leaders who are mulling retaliatory measures that could include a package of tariffs on \u20ac93bn (\u00a380bn) of US imports that has been suspended for six months.<\/p>\n

Another option is the bloc\u2019s \u201canti-coercion instrument\u201d (ACI), which has never been used but would limit US access to public tenders, investments or banking activities and restrict trade in services, including digital services.<\/p>\n

Bart De Wever, the Belgian prime minister, said 80 years of Atlanticism could be coming to an end. Photograph: Denis Balibouse\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Senior MEPs on the European parliament\u2019s international trade committee are expected to announce on Wednesday the formal suspension of ratification of the EU-US trade deal sealed in July, after a deal between the largest political groups, a European parliament source said.<\/p>\n

However, the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said that US relations with Europe were strong and urged partners to \u201ctake a deep breath\u201d and let tensions over Greenland \u201cplay out\u201d.<\/p>\n

Bessent said a solution would be found and European \u201chysteria\u201d was unjustified. \u201cIt\u2019s been 48 hours. Sit back, relax,\u201d he said. \u201cI am confident the leaders will not escalate and that this will work out in a manner that ends up in a very good place for all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greenland\u2019s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said in the capital, Nuuk, that it was \u201cunlikely\u201d military force would be used, but it could be. \u201cGreenland is part of Nato, and if there is an escalation, it will have consequences for the outside world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, speaking in the Danish parliament, said that \u201cthe worst may still be ahead of us\u201d. Frederiksen added that her country had \u201cnever sought conflict. We have consistently sought cooperation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump has repeatedly said the US needs to take control of Greenland for \u201cnational security\u201d, despite the US already having a military base on the island and a bilateral agreement with Denmark allowing it to massively expand its presence there.<\/p>\n

Von der Leyen said in her speech that the EU was working on a package for Arctic security based on Greenlandic and Danish sovereignty, a big investment surge in Greenland, and cooperation with the US in the region.<\/p>\n

The Danish public broadcaster TV2 reported that 58 Danish troops had landed in Greenland on Tuesday to join about 60 others who were dispatched earlier for a multinational military exercise, Operation Arctic Endurance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

European leaders are considering establishing a more permanent military presence in the high north to help guarantee security in the Arctic region, a key US demand, the Swedish defence minister, P\u00e5l Jonson, said.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said he had no plans to travel to Davos but could change his plans if his delegation and US officials make a breakthrough in peace efforts aimed at ending the war in his country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"European leaders have lined up to condemn Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cnew colonialism\u201d and warn that the continent was facing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419484,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101],"class_list":{"0":"post-419483","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}