EU Says US Relations Suffer Blow After Trump Greenland Row

Published: 23 January 2026. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online

Relations between the European Union and the United States have taken a significant hit after a week of escalating tensions triggered by Donald Trump’s threats over Greenland, the EU’s foreign policy chief has said, as European leaders gathered for an emergency summit aimed at containing the fallout and reassessing the future of the transatlantic partnership.

Kaja Kallas, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, said the past week had underscored just how unpredictable relations with Washington had become under Trump’s leadership. Speaking after the hastily convened summit, she told reporters that Europe was being forced to navigate an era of sudden shifts and uncertainty. “One day, one way; the other day, again, everything could change,” she said, summing up the mood among EU leaders.

Kallas acknowledged openly that relations with the United States had “definitely taken a big blow over the last week,” following Trump’s threat to impose sweeping tariffs on European countries that resisted a proposed US takeover of Greenland. However, she stressed that the EU was not prepared to abandon the foundations of the transatlantic alliance. “We are not willing to junk 80 years of good relations,” she said, signalling that despite the shock, Europe still saw value in maintaining close ties with Washington.

The emergency summit was called after Trump announced earlier this week that he would impose 10% tariffs on eight European nations unless they supported a US takeover of Greenland, an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. The move stunned European capitals and raised fears of a direct challenge to Danish sovereignty, Nato unity and the postwar international order. Although Trump abruptly abandoned the tariff threat on Wednesday, following what officials described as a vague understanding on Arctic security cooperation, EU leaders decided the meeting was still necessary to confront deeper concerns about the trajectory of US-EU relations.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen sought to strike a measured tone after the meeting, saying that EU unity and a strategy of firm but non-escalatory engagement with Washington had paid off. She suggested that Europe’s collective stance had helped persuade Trump to step back from his most aggressive proposals, while underlining that the bloc needed to remain vigilant.

Arriving at the summit, Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, praised the show of unity among EU member states and Nato allies. She said the crisis had demonstrated Europe’s willingness to stand up for itself when core principles were challenged. Frederiksen reiterated that Danish sovereignty over Greenland was not open to negotiation and said relations between Denmark and the US must be conducted “respectfully and without threats”.

She also noted that Nato states broadly supported the idea of maintaining a permanent allied presence in the Arctic, including around Greenland, reflecting growing strategic concern over the region as climate change opens new shipping routes and access to natural resources.

French president Emmanuel Macron, still drawing attention after his high-profile appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, adopted a sterner tone. He warned that Europe must be ready to respond decisively if similar threats were repeated in the future. “We need to remain extremely vigilant and ready to use the instruments at our disposal should we find ourselves the target of threats again,” Macron said, a clear reference to the EU’s economic and trade defence tools.

Germany’s new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, welcomed Trump’s apparent change of heart, expressing relief that the US president had distanced himself from the idea of taking over Greenland and refrained from imposing tariffs due to come into force on 1 February. But behind the expressions of gratitude lay widespread unease about how quickly the situation had escalated.

Several EU leaders emphasised their determination to preserve the US as a strategic ally, even as trust was strained. Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda said he continued to regard the United States as Europe’s closest friend, pointing to the presence of US battalions stationed in his country as a tangible symbol of American commitment to European security.

Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, echoed those sentiments, saying Europe needed to remain united to protect its relationships across the Atlantic, even if doing so had become more difficult than at any point in recent decades. However, he added a pointed caveat, arguing that international politics depended on “trust and respect”, not domination or coercion.

Greenland itself also weighed in on the controversy. Speaking in Nuuk, Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said he did not know the precise details of the arrangement Trump claimed to have reached on Arctic security, but insisted that the territory’s sovereignty was non-negotiable. Greenland, which left the EU in 1985 but remains closely linked to Denmark, wanted peaceful dialogue with the United States, he said.

“If we have to choose,” Nielsen added, “we choose the Kingdom of Denmark, we choose the EU, we choose Nato,” a clear rejection of any suggestion that Greenland might align itself directly with Washington outside existing frameworks.

The summit took place against the backdrop of sharp criticism from Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who earlier this week delivered a blistering assessment of Europe’s geopolitical posture. Zelenskyy accused European leaders of being slow and hesitant compared with what he described as bold US actions elsewhere in the world, warning that Europe needed to take greater responsibility for its own defence.

“Right now, Nato exists thanks to the belief that the United States will act,” Zelenskyy said. “But what if it doesn’t?” He argued that Europe should move towards a more unified military capability, a message that resonated with leaders increasingly concerned about Washington’s reliability.

Despite those criticisms, EU officials were quick to highlight the scale of Europe’s support for Ukraine. According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, EU countries had allocated €188.6bn to Ukraine by the end of October 2025, including military, financial and humanitarian aid. Von der Leyen pointed to the EU’s €90bn loan package pledged last month as evidence that Europe’s actions matched its rhetoric, even if decision-making had sometimes been slow.

Beyond security, the crisis has also reignited tensions over trade. The European parliament signalled on Thursday that it was prepared to reconsider its decision to freeze ratification of a major EU-US trade deal, one of the bloc’s strongest responses to Trump’s tariff threats. Lawmakers had paused the process earlier this week, delaying a planned vote on eliminating tariffs on many US goods, after Trump announced his intention to punish Europe economically.

Following the reversal of the tariff threat, European parliament president Roberta Metsola said discussions on the trade agreement could now resume. However, Bernd Lange, chair of the parliament’s trade committee, warned against complacency. Writing on social media, he said there was “no room for false security” and cautioned that new threats from Washington were likely to emerge.

During internal discussions, EU officials had explored the possibility of imposing duties on up to €93bn worth of US goods and even deploying the bloc’s powerful anti-coercion instrument, which would allow sweeping economic penalties against American companies. Even governments traditionally most committed to transatlantic ties had conceded that such measures might be necessary if Trump followed through on his threats.

European leaders were particularly alarmed by the implications of Trump’s rhetoric on Greenland for the wider global order. Many feared that acquiescing to a US takeover of the territory would undermine the principle of sovereignty and embolden other powers, potentially lending legitimacy to a Chinese move on Taiwan or a Russian escalation against the Baltic states.

Although the immediate Greenland crisis has eased, attention has now turned to Trump’s proposed “board of peace”, an initiative unveiled in Davos that European leaders worry could rival or undermine the United Nations. António Costa, the president of the European Council, said the EU had “serious doubts” about the board’s scope, governance and compatibility with existing international institutions.

While the EU said it was willing to work with the US on elements of Trump’s Gaza peace plan, under which the board of peace was initially envisaged as a transitional authority for the territory, there was growing unease about its evolution into a body with broad geopolitical ambitions under Trump’s direct control. So far, only Hungary and Bulgaria among EU member states have accepted invitations to join, while France, Sweden, the UK and Norway have declined.

As leaders departed Brussels, the message was one of cautious resolve. The transatlantic relationship, they insisted, remained vital, but the events of the past week had exposed deep vulnerabilities. For Europe, the Greenland crisis has become more than a diplomatic scare; it is a warning that the old assumptions underpinning its alliance with Washington can no longer be taken for granted.