Trump’s Greenland threats prompt ‘extraordinary meeting’ of European leaders

(LONDON) — European leaders hit back at U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement that he would impose sanctions on nations that deployed small numbers of military forces to Greenland last week, as the president continues his push to acquire the Arctic territory.

Trump said Saturday that a 10% tariff would be imposed on all goods sent to the U.S. from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the U.K., the Netherlands and Finland.

Trump said the new tariffs will come into force on Feb. 1, and will increase to 25% on June 1. The president said the measures would remain in place until the U.S. is able to purchase Greenland.

Greenland is a self-governing territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. Trump first raised the prospect of acquiring the minerals-rich island in his first term. Danish and Greenlandic politicians have repeatedly rebuffed such proposals.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday said the bloc’s members will meet Trump’s pressure as a united front.

“We have consistently underlined our shared transatlantic interest in peace and security in the Arctic, including through NATO,” she wrote in a post to X. “The pre-coordinated Danish exercise, conducted with allies, responds to the need to strengthen Arctic security and poses no threat to anyone.”

“Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral. Europe will remain united, coordinated and committed to upholding its sovereignty,” von der Leyen said.

Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign affairs chief, suggested in a post to X that the escalating tensions between the U.S. and its European allies is a boon for Moscow and Beijing.

“China and Russia must be having a field day,” she wrote. “They are the ones who benefit from divisions among allies. If Greenland’s security is at risk, we can address this inside NATO.”

“Tariffs risk making Europe and the United States poorer and undermine our shared prosperity,” Kallas wrote, suggesting the furor was distracting from allied efforts to support Ukraine against Russia’s ongoing full-scale invasion.

The eight countries — all NATO members — threatened with the tariffs issued a joint statement on Sunday saying they “stand in full solidarity with the Kingdom of Denmark and the people of Greenland.”

The statement says tariffs “undermine transatlantic relations and carry the risk of a dangerous downward spiral.” The signatories added that they are “committed to strengthening security in the Arctic region as a shared transatlantic interest,” and in this context, the planned military exercise in Greenland, “poses a threat to no one.”

EU pushback against Trump came alongside criticism from national leaders.

“France is committed to the sovereignty and independence of nations,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement Saturday, adding that “no intimidation nor threat will influence us, neither in Ukraine, nor in Greenland, nor anywhere else in the world when we are confronted with such situations.”

“Tariff threats are unacceptable and have no place in this context. Europeans will respond to them in a united and coordinated manner if they were to be confirmed. We will know how to uphold European sovereignty,” Macron said.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, “Applying tariffs on allies for pursuing the collective security of NATO allies is completely wrong.”

“Our position on Greenland is very clear — it is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and its future is a matter for the Greenlanders and the Danes,” he said.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said discussions are ongoing between the affected nations to build a coordinated response.

“We will not let ourselves be blackmailed. Only Denmark and Greenland decide on issues concerning Denmark and Greenland,” he said.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Sunday that Trump’s decision to impose new tariffs was “a mistake and I do not agree with it.”

“The intention of some European countries to send troops, to take part in greater security, should have been understood not as an initiative directed against the United States but rather against other actors,” Meloni said.

Meloni said she spoke with Trump “a few hours ago” and “told him what I think.”

“A core meeting of the European Union has been organized but I believe that at this stage it is very important to talk to one another and that it is very important to avoid an escalation,” she added.

Trump has repeatedly suggested that U.S. sovereignty over the world’s largest island is necessary to ensure American security and blunt Chinese and Russian influence in the Arctic region.

“This is a very dangerous situation for the Safety, Security, and Survival of our Planet. These Countries, who are playing this very dangerous game, have put a level of risk in play that is not tenable or sustainable,” Trump posted on social media on Saturday, referring to deployment of small contingents of troops by European allies.

“Only the United States of America, under PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP, can play in this game, and very successfully, at that!” he said in the post.

As a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, Greenland is covered by NATO’s collective defense clause. Greenland hosts the U.S. Pituffik Space Base and around 150 American troops, the U.S. having significantly downgraded its footprint from its high point during the Cold War.

A 1951 defense agreement grants the U.S. military access to Greenland. Danish politicians have repeatedly expressed willingness to work with Washington to expand the American and NATO presence there.

Danish officials have also sought to head off concerns about the supposed vulnerability of the Arctic. Last year, Copenhagen announced a $6.5 billion Arctic defense package in response to U.S. criticism that it had failed to adequately protect Greenland.

But such steps do not appear to have deterred Trump, who has said he would consider taking Greenland by force if other means to acquire the land fail.

A meeting in Washington, D.C., last week between U.S., Danish and Greenlandic representatives seemingly failed to de-escalate the standoff.

“It’s clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told reporters after meeting with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Rasmussen said that outcome was “totally unacceptable.”

Rasmussen said Saturday that the president’s threat came as a surprise, citing his “constructive meeting” with Vance and Rubio last week.

Rasmussen said in a statement that the purpose of last week’s military deployments to Greenland “is to enhance security in the Arctic.”

The continued U.S. focus on Greenland prompted protests there this weekend, with crowds of people turning out for a “Stop Trump” march through the capital Nuuk. Greenlandic politicians have collectively and repeatedly said they do not wish to join the U.S.

Trump’s efforts have also prompted congressional resistance. On Friday, a bipartisan group of House members and senators traveled to Greenland and said they had “constructive” conversations with members of Denmark’s parliament.

U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who were part of the delegation, released a statement Saturday warning that the tariff threat will hurt the U.S.’s relationships with its European counterparts.

“There is no need, or desire, for a costly acquisition or hostile military takeover of Greenland when our Danish and Greenlandic allies are eager to work with us on Arctic security, critical minerals and other priorities under the framework of long-standing treaties,” the lawmakers said in the statement.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Saturday that Democrats will introduce legislation to block tariffs against countries who oppose a takeover of Greenland.

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(PARIS) — As a deadline fast approaches to either charge to release two suspects in the $102 million Louvre jewel heist, the president of France’s Senate Culture Committee said the museum is “not up to standard” for guarding it against other bandits.

The Paris prosecutor has until Wednesday to decide whether to file charges when a 96-hour window expires on holding two French nationals arrested over the weekend, just as they were about to flee the country.

As the massive manhunt for at least two other perpetrators in the brazen robbery stretched into its 10th day, Laurent Lafon, president of the Senate Culture Committee, said the Oct. 19 jewel heist at the museum exposed major flaws in its security.

“We have a security system that does not meet what we would expect from a museum,” Lafon said on Tuesday while standing outside the world’s most visited museum.

Lafon said “numerous improvements need to be made” to correct flaws that enable a team of thieves to steal precious pieces of the French crown jewels and other treasures once belonging to Emperor Napoleon and his wife.

“The security equipment was not suitable for a museum worthy of the 21st century and for such a unique site for France. It is our flagship institution; it must be exemplary, and today, we cannot describe the security conditions as exemplary,” Lafon said.

Lafon spoke out ahead of a Wednesday hearing on the museum’s security issues.

In what appeared to be an intricately planned robbery, a team of thieves drove up to the side of the museum in what police described as a stolen truck with a “mobile freight elevator” or cherry picker on the back that was extended up to a window, according to the Paris police.

Two of the thieves dressed as construction workers used the cherry picker to get up to the second floor, where they cut through the window of the Apollo Gallery using angle grinders, authorities said. Upon entering the gilded gallery, the thieves used power tools to cut into the glass cases to reach the precious jewels, investigators said.

The entire theft took about seven minutes, according to investigators.

Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau estimated that $102 million worth of jewels were stolen, including crowns, necklaces, earrings and a diamond-encrusted brooch.

Over the weekend, police arrested two men, both in their 30s and from the Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis, French National Police confirmed to ABC News.

Investigators said they matched trace DNA evidence recovered from a helmet left at the scene of the crime to one of the suspects, enabling police to put the alleged thief under phone and physical surveillance.

One suspect was arrested at 10 p.m. on Saturday at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport while trying to board a plane bound for Algeria, according to police.

The second suspect was nabbed by police as he was about to travel to Mali, in West Africa, an investigator with the Paris Brigade for the Repression of Banditry (BRB), the special police unit spearheading the probe, and a source with the French Interior Ministry directly connected to the investigation told ABC News.

One of the suspects has dual citizenship in France and Mali, and the other is a dual citizen of France and Algeria, investigators said, adding that both were already known to police from past burglary cases.

Investigators say they’re still determining whether a source inside the Louvre may have had a role in the theft.

“They knew exactly where they were going. It looks like something very organized and very professional,” French Culture Minister Rachida Dati told ABC News last week.

While testifying before France’s Senate Culture Committee on Wednesday, Laurence des Cars, president and director of the Louvre, described the heist as “an immense wound that has been inflicted on us.”

Des Cars said all of the museum’s alarms worked properly, as did its video cameras, but noted a “weakness” in security that was taken advantage of by the thieves. She said the only camera installed outside the Apollo Gallery was facing west and did not cover the window where the thieves broke in and exited.

“The weakness of the Louvre is its perimeter security, which has been a problem for a long time … certainly due to underinvestment,” des Cars told the lawmakers.

Des Cars said a “Grand Louvre renovation project” began 40 years ago “and has only affected half of the museum.”

“We did not spot the criminals arriving from outside early enough,” des Cars said.

“The security system, as installed in the Apollo Gallery, worked perfectly,” des Cars said. “The question that arises is how to adapt this system to a new type of attack and modus operandi that we could not have foreseen.”

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(LONDON) — U.S. officials are expected to meet with Danish and Greenlandic counterparts in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, amid President Donald Trump’s continued expressions of intent to acquire the semi-autonomous Arctic territory despite collective opposition in both Copenhagen and Nuuk.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and Greenlandic Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt are set to lead the delegation to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance. Greenland is a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark.

In Denmark, “this is the big national news,” Jonas Parello-Plesner, a Danish political analyst and former diplomat, told ABC News. “If in the first Trump period the saying was, ‘You should take him seriously, but not literally,’ I think the saying this time around is, ‘You should both take him seriously and literally.'”

Trump first raised the prospect of acquiring the territory during his first term, when Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen dismissed the idea as “absurd.” Trump’s second term has seen the president speak more aggressively about the proposal.

“Even from a year ago, I see a quite stark difference in both Greenlandic and Danish attitudes that this is actually potentially really serious and life changing for the Kingdom of Denmark,” said Parello-Plesner, who is now the executive director at the Copenhagen-based nonprofit Alliance of Democracies Foundation.

Mikkel Runge Olesen, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, told ABC News that the furor is prompting deeper questions among Danes and Greenlanders about their long-standing ties to the U.S.

“Is this who the U.S. is now? A superpower going around, invading its small democratic allies?” he asked. “That’s scary to think of.”

“Just think of what it will do for the American alliance system worldwide,” he added. “What kind of signal it sends — if you’re allied with the U.S., you may be invaded whenever it suits the U.S.”

‘You need ownership’
Trump has repeatedly suggested that U.S. sovereignty over the world’s largest island is necessary to ensure American security and blunt Chinese and Russian influence in the Arctic region.

As a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, Greenland is covered by NATO’s collective defense clause. Greenland hosts the U.S. Pituffik Space Base and around 150 American troops, the U.S. having significantly downgraded its footprint from its high point during the Cold War.

A 1951 defense agreement grants the U.S. military access to Greenland, and Danish politicians have repeatedly expressed willingness to work with Washington to expand the American and NATO presence there.

Danish officials have also sought to head off concerns about the supposed vulnerability of the Arctic. Last year, Copenhagen announced a $6.5 billion Arctic defense package in response to U.S. criticism that it had failed to adequately protect Greenland.

But Trump and his administration appear undeterred. “One way or the other, we’re going to have Greenland,” the president told reporters aboard Air Force One this weekend.

“If we don’t take Greenland, Russia or China will and I’m not letting that happen,” Trump said, before deriding Denmark’s military strength on the island.

“Basically, their defense is two dog sleds,” Trump said. “In the meantime, you have Russian destroyers and submarines and China destroyers and submarines all over the place.”

Asked if there was a deal to be done to avoid further tensions, Trump said he would “love to” because “it would be easier.”

But when pressed, the president said, “I could put a lot of soldiers there right now if I want. But you need more than that. You need ownership.”

Ahead of this week’s meeting, Danish and Greenlandic politicians issued statements again rebuffing any suggestion of a U.S. acquisition of the island, statements which were backed by other European leaders.

“If the United States decides to attack another NATO country, then everything would stop — that includes NATO and therefore post-World War II security,” Frederiksen said in a statement.

“Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. Greenland is a member of NATO through the Commonwealth and therefore the defense of Greenland is through NATO,” the government in Nuuk said in a statement.

On Wednesday, Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen posted a photo to social media showing a message sent to him by Frederiksen.

“Greenland will not be owned by the United States,” the message — written in Greenlandic — said. “Greenland does not want to be ruled by the United States. Greenland does not want to be a part of the United States. We want Greenland to continue to function as part of the Kingdom.”

The leaders of all five political parties holding seats in Greenland’s parliament also released a joint statement. “We do not want to be Americans, we do not want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders,” they said.

Before heading to the U.S. on Tuesday, Rasmussen — the Danish foreign minister — told reporters in Copenhagen, “Our reason for seeking the meeting we have now been given was to move this whole discussion, which has not become less tense since we last met, into a meeting room where we can look each other in the eye and talk about these things.”

Appealing to ‘the deal-maker’
Olesen, of the Danish Institute for International Studies, said Trump’s most recent comments “should worry Danish politicians.” His apparent dismissal of Copenhagen’s efforts to bolster its Arctic readiness “means that either he hasn’t noticed” or “he doesn’t care. And either way, it’s pretty bad.”

Trump told The New York Times he believed U.S. ownership of Greenland “is what I feel is psychologically necessary for success.” That, too, is “problematic” for Copenhagen, Olesen said. “How do you deal with that?” he asked.

“That’s the conundrum for the Danish and the Greenlandic politicians,” Olesen said, “trying not to provoke Trump too much and trying to give him something.”

“It will be difficult to offer a compromise if all he wants is ownership,” he added.

Parello-Plesner, the former Danish diplomat, said the experiences of other nations during Trump’s second term may offer models.

Trump’s focus on Panama and perceived Chinese overreach produced a proposed deal for a U.S. firm to take control of two ports there owned by a Hong Kong conglomerate. The president described the deal as “reclaiming the Panama Canal.”

José Raúl Mulino, the president of Panama, addressed Trump’s comments about the Panama Canal in a post on X last March, saying in part: “President Trump is lying again. The Panama Canal is not in the process of being recovered, and this was certainly not a topic of discussion in our conversations with Secretary Rubio or anyone else. On behalf of Panama and all Panamanians, I reject this new affront to the truth and to our dignity as a nation.”

In Ukraine, Kyiv alleviated U.S. pressure by agreeing to a rare earth minerals sharing deal as part of the U.S.-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund.

“There’s also a very pragmatic side to Trump — the deal maker,” Parello-Plesner said. “I think our side needs to give him something to work with,” he added.

That could mean fresh commitments on American military deployments in Greenland, a deal related to the territory’s untapped mineral wealth or a pledge to do more to block autocratic states from asserting their Arctic ambitions, Parello-Plesner said.

It is unclear what might appeal to the U.S. side, he continued. “We’ve seen for 30 years that the U.S. has just wanted to cut down on the presence up there and only uses it for limited missile defense purposes,” he said.

Regarding Greenland’s believed mineral wealth, Parello-Plesner said the U.S. government and private companies have been largely uninterested given the territory’s inhospitable weather and terrain, extraction challenges and global market forces.

A symbolic win might be enough to take the heat out of Trump’s push, Olesen said.

“It’s going to be interesting to see how far Danish and Greenlandic politicians feel they can go in order to avoid being humiliated, in order to avoid handing over the Greenlandic underground to a bully,” Olesen continued.

“But then again, the stakes are so high, so I wouldn’t rule it out, and I wouldn’t rule out that if this is something that could solve the crisis.”

In the meantime, both analysts said Copenhagen and Nuuk are likely to focus on bolstering the image of domestic unity, European solidarity, backing from the U.S. Congress and NATO-led Arctic security.

“The Trump policy line is not invulnerable,” Olesen said, noting pushback from U.S. voters and members of Congress — including prominent Republicans.

“At some point, Trump may decide that it’s not worth the bother anymore, and in that case, it would probably be wise to offer him some way to save face and get out of it,” he said.

But months of back and forth over Greenland have already done significant damage to transatlantic sentiment in Denmark, Parello-Plesner said, in a country he said has long prided itself on broad support for NATO and for close relations with the U.S. Danish forces, for example, sustained a comparable per capita casualty rate as the U.S. in the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan.

That strength of feeling, he said, “has dropped tremendously.”

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