European leaders have spent years standing shoulder to shoulder to defend Ukraine’s sovereignty against Russia’s invasion. This weekend, they found themselves deploying the same language and diplomatic choreography for a very different reason: protecting Denmark from threats issued by their closest ally, the United States.
US President Donald Trump’s warning that he could impose a 10 per cent tariff on eight European countries to force the acquisition of Greenland has sent shockwaves through Europe.
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK were all named as potential targets, triggering emergency phone calls, crisis meetings and joint statements of condemnation across the continent.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen summed up the mood after consultations with France, Germany, the UK and Italy. “Together we stand firm in our commitment to uphold the sovereignty of Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark,” she said, pledging unity and resolve in words strikingly similar to her repeated assurances of “unwavering support” for Kyiv.
The parallel has not been lost on European capitals. For many, the spectacle of defending Denmark from US pressure while relying on Washington to help secure Ukraine highlights an increasingly uncomfortable contradiction.
At stake is not only Greenland’s status, but the credibility of the rules-based international order and the principle of collective defence that has defined NATO since World War II.
The timing could hardly be worse. Trump’s escalation coincides with delicate transatlantic negotiations on security guarantees for a post-war Ukraine. Those talks gained momentum after US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner joined a Paris meeting of the so-called “Coalition of the Willing”, co-led by France and the UK.
The group outlined five guarantees, including a US-led ceasefire monitoring mechanism, a multinational force on Ukrainian soil, and legally binding commitments to assist Kyiv if Russia attacks again.
Yet Trump’s Greenland gambit has cast a shadow over that cooperation. European leaders now openly question whether Washington can be trusted to defend Ukraine’s sovereignty while appearing willing to pressure, or even coerce, a European ally over territory.
French President Emmanuel Macron drew a direct comparison between the two crises. “No intimidation or threat will influence us,” he said. “Neither in Ukraine, nor in Greenland, nor anywhere else in the world.”
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez went further, warning that any US show of force in Greenland would make Vladimir Putin “the happiest man in the world” by legitimising Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Whether Trump ultimately follows through on his threat remains uncertain. But for Europe, the damage may already be done. Even the hint that a NATO leader could undermine another member’s sovereignty risks eroding trust at a moment when unity is seen as essential to deter Russian aggression.
As European officials quietly acknowledge, defending Denmark and defending Ukraine may soon become inseparable tests of whether the transatlantic alliance can still function as it once did.