COPENHAGEN: Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Tuesday said she had received support from European leaders as she sought backing to counter US President Donald Trump’s threats to take over Greenland.
After an initial stopover in Berlin in the morning, Frederiksen was in Paris by midday and due to travel to Brussels in the afternoon to meet NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
Following a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, the Danish head of government told reporters she had received “a great deal of support.”
“This is a very, very clear message... that of course there must be respect for territory and the sovereignty of states,” Frederiksen said.
“This is a crucial part of the international community, the international community that we have built together since World War II,” she added.
Trump has signalled that he wants the Arctic island — which is believed to hold large untapped mineral and oil reserves — to become part of the United States.
He has talked for years about a possible deal to take control of the Danish autonomous territory.
On Saturday, he told reporters he believed that the United States would “get Greenland,” which is located between the United States and Europe in a region of increasing strategic value as the melting of Arctic sea ice opens up new shipping routes.
Trump argues his country needs Greenland for “international security.”
But Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen on Tuesday retorted that “Trump will not have Greenland.”
“Greenland is Greenland. And the Greenlandic people are a people, also in the sense of international law,” Lokke told reporters.
Frederiksen met early on Tuesday with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin.
After speaking about Russia’s war in Ukraine, Scholz stressed that “borders must not be moved by force” and added the English-language phrase: “To whom it may concern.”
The chancellor said “the times we live in are challenging” and require a strong Europe and NATO. He stressed that “Denmark and Germany are strong partners and close friends.”
Tuesday’s visits followed a weekend Nordic summit where leaders all “shared the gravity of the situation,” Frederiksen said.
Denmark on Monday announced that it would spend 14.6 billion kroner ($2 billion) to bolster security in the Arctic.
It said it would send three new frigates to the region, as well as long-distance drones equipped with advanced imaging capabilities. It would also reinforce its satellite capabilities.
Officials in Greenland, which depends heavily on Denmark for subsidies, have long been pushing for independence but have said they are open to doing business with the US.
A day after Trump was sworn in as president, Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede insisted that Greenlanders “don’t want to be American.”
In mid-January, Frederiksen reportedly spoke to Trump by telephone, stressing that it was up to Greenland to determine its future.
According to European sources cited by the Financial Times, Danish officials described the conversation as “horrendous,” and that Trump’s interest in Greenland was “serious, and potentially very dangerous.”
The US president, who has not excluded a possible military intervention to annex the island, reportedly threatened Denmark with tariffs over the issue.
The United States is the small Scandinavian country’s main export market.
Greenland’s trade and justice minister Naaja Nathanielsen on Monday told AFP that the Greenlandic people were living through a “worrying time” and were “concerned” about Trump’s statements.
“As a government, our job is not to panic and to figure out what the actual demands are,” Nathanielsen said.
“If it is about military presence, the US has been here for 80 years, we are not opposed to that. If it is about the minerals, it is an open market,” she added.
But, she warned, “if it is about expansionism, we are a democracy, we are allies and we ask our allies to respect our institutions.”
The European Union’s top military official on Saturday said that troops from EU countries could be based in Greenland.
“In my view, it would make perfect sense not only to station US forces in Greenland, as is currently the case, but also to consider stationing EU soldiers there,” Robert Brieger, chairman of the European Union Military Committee told German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.
France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot did not rule out the possibility of European troops in Greenland.
“Why not, since it is a matter of security,” Barrot told Sud Radio on Tuesday.
He stressed, however, that “that is not the wish expressed by Denmark, but it is a possibility.”
Danish PM says received European support over Trump’s Greenland bid
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Danish PM says received European support over Trump’s Greenland bid
- “This is a very, very clear message... that of course there must be respect for territory and the sovereignty of states,” Frederiksen said
- Trump has signalled that he wants the Arctic island — which is believed to hold large untapped mineral and oil reserves — to become part of the US
Trump threatens to halt US trade with Spain over military bases, defense spending
- The US relocated 15 aircraft, including refueling tankers, from the Rota and Moron military bases in southern Spain after the country’s Socialist leadership said it would not allow them to be used to attack Iran
- Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, one of a dwindling number of left-leaning voices in Europe, has risked Trump’s ire with a series of other policy moves, including refusing to let vessels transporting weapons to Israel dock in Spain
WASHINGTON/MADRID: US President Donald Trump threatened to impose a full US trade embargo on Spain on Tuesday after the European and NATO ally refused to let the US military use its bases for missions linked to strikes on Iran.
“Spain has been terrible,” Trump told reporters during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, adding that he had told Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to “cut off all dealings” with Spain.
“We’re going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don’t want anything to do with Spain,” he added.
The US relocated 15 aircraft, including refueling tankers, from the Rota and Moron military bases in southern Spain after the country’s Socialist leadership said it would not allow them to be used to attack Iran.
Trump again referenced Spain’s refusal to heed US calls for all NATO members to spend 5 percent of their GDP on defense, and added: “Spain has absolutely nothing that we need.”
“All business having to do with Spain, I have the right to stop it. Embargoes — do anything I want with it — and we may do that with Spain,” he said, again expressing his frustration with the Supreme Court’s ruling last month that his broadest global tariffs were illegal under a national emergencies law.
NO SEPARATE TREATMENT FOR SPAIN
Merz, speaking with reporters after the meeting, said he told Trump privately that Spain could not be excluded from a trade agreement reached between Brussels and Washington last year.
“I said that Spain is a member of the European Union and we negotiate about tariffs with the United States only together or not at all,” he said. “There is no way to treat Spain particularly badly.”
Trump publicly asked Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer their opinions on cutting off Spanish trade.
“Well, sir, I think we’ll talk about it with you,” Greer said. “We know you can use it, and if you need to use it to assure national and economic security, we’ll do it.”
Bessent said the Supreme Court affirmed Trump’s embargo powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, adding that the USTR and Commerce Department would begin investigations into how to penalize Spain under other trade laws.
HIGH BAR
Jennifer Hillman, a trade law professor at Georgetown University, said the Supreme Court did not address the president’s ability to impose a trade embargo under IEEPA. Trump could do so, but he would have to declare a national emergency over Spain as an “unusual and extraordinary” threat to the United States, she said, adding that such a move would go “well beyond” any previous emergency.
“It’s hard to see, however, how Spain denying us the use of air bases on its territory for us to launch an unprovoked attack on Iran poses ‘an unusual and extraordinary threat’ to our national security or foreign policy,” added Peter Shane, a New York University adjunct law professor.
SPAIN RESPONDS
The Spanish government responded in a statement that the US must be mindful of the autonomy of private businesses, international law and bilateral trade agreements between the US and the European Union.
Madrid said it had the necessary resources to contain the potential impact of a trade embargo and support affected sectors, but said it would continue to push for free trade and economic cooperation with its partners.
Spain is the world’s top exporter of olive oil and also sells auto parts, steel and chemicals to the United States, but is less vulnerable to Trump’s threats of economic punishment than other European nations.
The US had a trade surplus with Spain for the fourth year in a row in 2025, at $4.8 billion, according to US Census Bureau data, with US exports of $26.1 billion and imports of $21.3 billion. US exports of crude oil and liquefied natural gas to Spain have grown in recent years.
Merz said pressure was being brought to bear on Spain from within Europe on defense spending.
“We are trying to convince Spain to catch up with the 3 percent or 3.5 percent which we agreed on in NATO,” he said, adding later that Spain’s defense spending levels had nothing to do with the trade negotiations.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, one of a dwindling number of left-leaning voices in Europe, has risked Trump’s ire with a series of other policy moves, including refusing to let vessels transporting weapons to Israel dock in Spain.
