Rasmus Sinding Søndergaard, senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, discusses the avenues that Denmark could take to counter U.S. President Donald Trump's Greenland threats.

Brussels

European officials, including Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, have raised concerns about the viability of NATO's collective defense principle if the United States were to use military force against Greenland, a territory of Denmark. The discussion highlights skepticism about a military response from Europe and emphasizes the importance of diplomatic engagement and political strategies over direct confrontation.

The article notes that Greenland's geographic and infrastructural challenges make military defense difficult, and that a US action would likely be a demonstration of control rather than a full-scale invasion. European unity on the issue is uncertain, given other security priorities such as the conflict in Ukraine and varying perspectives on the US administration.

How can NATO survive if the U.S. uses military force in Greenland?

Yeah, I think what the Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has stated is that how can a defensive alliance that's built on the principle one for all, all for one, how can that carry on if one of the members do in fact attack another? So I think that that's just like an observation from her behalf that how can we carry on with the current security arrangements between the United States and Europe if the United States uses military force against one of its treaty allies? Yeah, I do not suspect that Trump cares too much about NATO, we've heard that from him repeatedly. However, there are people in his administration, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, others who clearly see the value, as well as Republicans in Congress understand the value of NATO to the United States. So could there be a more cooperative military approach in the EU, could that be more effective or are there limits to this, or what is the best solution for Europe in handling this, whether it's a diplomatic effort or some kind of strategic effort? Well, Greenland is a territory that's not very easily defended militarily, I mean there is very little infrastructure, it's obviously a very large island. So this idea of having some sort of military defense I think is not really what we're looking at here. This sort of US use of military force wouldn't really be a military invasion either, but rather some sort of demonstration of de facto military control, which the United States has already for its military base in Greenland. So I think this sort of talk of potentially putting European troops in Greenland and having some sort of shootout potentially, I think that's kind of a little bit off the mark here, that's not really what we're looking at. On the other hand also, I worry that European troops in Greenland might be seen as a pretext for some people in the Trump administration to more forcefully invoke the Monroe Doctrine, which of course states that the US will not allow foreign troops in the Western Hemisphere. So again, I'm skeptical of the sort of military response from Europe. I think strong political segments, as we've seen, combined with effective lobbying of those people in the United States with power who actually do not want to see the US invade Greenland, that is the majority, I still believe, who do not want this to happen, combined with maybe threats of economic retaliation, I think those are the avenues that we should pursue. But first and foremost, diplomatic engagement next week with the Secretary of State, Mark Rubio. So do the Danes feel fully supported by Europe? Do you think that Europe would be prepared to go back, to come to Greenland's defense and Denmark's defense? Well, I think here in Denmark and in Greenland, there has been appreciation for the sort of strong and united European response rhetorically in sort of supporting Greenland's right to choose for themselves. I also think if we're being realistic, we need to understand there are limitations to what Europe could do collectively in case of a worst case scenario where the US takes Greenland by force, simply because there are other security concerns for many European countries, of course, primarily Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine, but also various other perspectives inside different European countries on the value of the United States and views on the Trump administration vary quite a bit as well. So I am worried that European response in case of sort of worst case scenario of a military attack by the United States will struggle to find a sort of cohesive response.

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Breakdown