Will Trump leave NATO over Greenland?

Will Trump leave NATO over Greenland?

The president keeps rattling his sword over possession of Greenland saying that anything less is unacceptable. He doesn’t appear to be joking sending vice president Vance and Marco Rubio to meet with the Danish foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Greenland’s Premier Jens-Frederik Nielsen. The meeting did not appear to yield any tangible results with Denmark and Greenland sternly resisting the siren call of the US. Rasmussen said that “their perspectives differed” and diplomatically “We agreed that it makes sense to try to sit down on a high level to explore whether there’s possibilities to accommodate the concerns of the president while we at the same time, respect the red lines of the Kingdom of Denmark. I must say, the president has made his view clear, and we have a different position.” Rasmussen added “Ideas that would not respect territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark and the right of self-determination of the Greenlandic people are, of course, totally unacceptable.”

Also noteworthy is that Greenland’s residents overwhelmingly do not want to be taken over by the United States. Greenland’s Premier Nielsen said “Greenland does not want to be owned by the USA. Greenland does not want to be governed by the USA. Greenland will not be part of the USA. We choose the Greenland we know today, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.” But that is of no concern to the president. Trump responded “That’s their problem. I disagree with him. I don’t know who he is. Don’t know anything about him, but that’s going to be a big problem for him.” The president then said that NATO should be supporting his efforts to take over Greenland. “NATO should be leading the way for us to get it. IF WE DON’T, RUSSIA OR CHINA WILL, AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! Militarily, without the vast power of the United States, much of which I built during my first term, and am now bringing to a new and even higher level, NATO would not be an effective force or deterrent – Not even close! They know that, and so do I.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did not turn down the heat when she said “The President and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the US Military is always an option at the Commander in Chief’s disposal.” Trump, himself, had hinted at military action, “I would, I would like to make a deal, you know, the easy way,” he said. “But if we don’t do it the easy way we’re going to do it the hard way.”

Well apparently NATO does not support the president. Quite the contrary. They are showing their support for Greenland in a most remarkable way. They are sending their military to Greenland! The Danes started sending reinforcements to the island and their NATO allies did the same. I guess the Danes were responding to Trump’s mocking Greenland’s defenses as little more than”two dogsleds.” Denmark said its armed forces were “deploying capacities and units in connection with exercise activities from today, which will result in an increased military presence in and around Greenland of aircraft, ships and soldiers, including from NATO allies, in the coming period.” Sweden, Germany, France, the UK, the Netherlands and Finland all have joined the Danes by sending forces to Greenland. Also the head of the European Commission came down solidly on the side of Denmark and not the United States. 

This is a stunning development having our NATO allies sending military forces indicating to Trump that he had better think about using the US military to take over Greenland by force. Trump was not amused saying that Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland have “journeyed” to Greenland, for “purposes unknown,” posing a very dangerous situation for the safety, security and survival of our planet. That shakes NATO to its very foundation to have members responding with a show of force to ward off the threats of another member. Would Trump really exit NATO over Greenland?

NATO says it is offering is to help bolster Greenland’s security by handling air and sea patrols and boosting surveillance and defense and not to counter Trump’s threat. Trump is saying that he is going to send in more troops and it doesn’t matter what NATO does because he wants ownership of the country and if NATO doesn’t support him then he will slap additional tariffs on them and Greenland. “I may do that for Greenland too. I may put a tariff on countries if they don’t go along with Greenland, because we need Greenland for national security. So I may do that.” Then he actually did exactly that by putting an additional 10 percent on them still pretending that the exporters are paying the tariff saying “This Tariff will be due and payable until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland.” He then said the tariffs will increase to 25% on June 1^st.

The Europeans responded by suspending the bilateral trade agreements with the US negotiated due to the tariffs and some are threatening to retaliate by raising their tariffs – something that they have yet to do. In particular, the European Parliament has frozen the EU’s agreement with Trump and are threatening to retaliate. France’s Macron says “No intimidation nor threat will influence us.” Ulf Kristersson, the prime minister of Sweden says “we will not let ourselves be blackmailed.” Trump is attending the World Economic Forum in Davos and I am certain this will be much discussed. Right now the Europeans are rightly worried about the status of NATO and their dependency on the US for its protection against Russia. They are also worried that Trump may play his trump card by threatening to cut off all assistance to Ukraine. 

As to retaliation, although the Europeans could impose reciprocal tariffs on American imports they would really get the president’s attention if they levied fines and restricted the American high tech firms, banks and service providers that are dependent upon Europe for a substantial portion of their business and profitability. Then it will indeed be Smoot Hawley redux. The president has seemingly forgotten the art of the deal and now its his way or the highway.

Meanwhile, a bipartisan congressional committee met with Danish and Greenland officials in Copenhagen (don’t you love those congressional junkets?). Delaware’s Chris Coons and Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, both no friends of the president issued statements stating that Greenland was an ally not an asset and whose sovereignty should be respected. Murkowski and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire have introduced legislation that would prohibit the use of U.S. Defense or State department funds to annex or take control of Greenland or the sovereign territory of any NATO member state without that ally’s consent or authorization from the North Atlantic Council. It would be interesting to see how the senate would vote on such legislation and whether there would be enough votes to override a presidential veto. The chair of the Nuuk Inuit Circumpolar Council, said that it was clear “how the US administration views the people of Greenland, how the U.S. administration views Indigenous peoples, and peoples that are few in numbers.” She then said that the indigenous Inuit in Greenland do not want to be colonized again. Ouch!

Do you think Trump cares?  Nope. “One way or the other, we’re going to have Greenland.”