Trump’s Greenland threats overshadow Ukraine talks

European leaders and U.S. envoys meet in Paris to discuss Ukraine post-war security guarantees

(Image credit: Ludovic Marin / Pool / AFP via Getty Images)

What happened

European leaders and U.S. envoys met in Paris on Tuesday to hash out security guarantees for Ukraine when a potential ceasefire is reached with Russia. It was the largest meeting yet of the “coalition of the willing” backing Kyiv, and the first at which the Trump administration endorsed post-war security guarantees for Ukraine. But hanging over the meeting was President Donald Trump’s renewed threat to seize Greenland, the semiautonomous territory of fellow NATO member Denmark.

Who said what

Trump “should be taken seriously when he says that he wants Greenland,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned Monday, but if he “chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops ... including our NATO.” Six NATO allies — Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland — joined Frederiksen Tuesday in a joint statement affirming that “Greenland belongs to its people,” and only they and Denmark should “decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”

Hours later, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump believes “acquiring Greenland is a national security priority,” and “utilizing the U.S. military is always an option.” But Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers on Monday that Trump plans to buy the large Arctic island, not invade it, according to The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

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“The invasion talk is probably Trumpian bluster to prod a negotiation to buy the island,” the Journal said in an editorial. But this “self-defeating exercise in U.S. bullying” of a NATO friend is “damaging America’s interests across the Atlantic” and “giving Vladimir Putin another wedge to divide America from Europe,” resulting in “less U.S. leverage for driving a good and durable Ukraine settlement.”

What next?

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Tuesday the U.K. and France had agreed to “establish military hubs across Ukraine” and “signed a declaration of intent” to deploy forces there “in the event of a peace deal.” U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said Trump “strongly stands behind security protocols” for Ukraine. At a press conference with Witkoff, French President Emmanuel Macron and Starmer “brushed aside questions about whether they could rely on commitments by Trump,” particularly given his Greenland designs, Reuters said.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.