European Allies Rally to Support Denmark Over Greenland Dispute

COPENHAGEN: A historic rift has opened within the NATO alliance as six major European powers rallied behind Denmark on Tuesday, following renewed assertions from the Trump administration that Greenland must come under United States control.

In a joint statement, the leaders of the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and Denmark declared that “Greenland belongs to its people,” asserting that only the Greenlandic and Danish governments have the authority to decide the territory’s future.

The diplomatic escalation follows comments from President Donald Trump, who on Sunday cited “security reasons” for the U.S. needing the semi-autonomous region. Crucially, the White House has refused to rule out the use of force to annex the territory.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen issued a chilling response on Monday, stating that any military move by the U.S. against a fellow ally would “spell the end of NATO.” Under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, member nations are committed to the collective defense of one another—a principle Frederiksen suggests would be permanently shattered by U.S. aggression.

The rhetoric from Washington has turned increasingly assertive. White House aide Stephen Miller told CNN that it is the “formal position of the US government that Greenland should be part of the US.”

Miller justified the stance by claiming the U.S. is the “power of NATO” and must control the Arctic to defend the alliance’s interests. When pressed on whether the U.S. would resort to military annexation, Miller responded: “Nobody’s going to fight the US over the future of Greenland.”

The European signatories emphasized that while Arctic security is a shared priority, it must be addressed “collectively” while upholding the UN Charter. They specifically highlighted the principles of “territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders”—a direct rebuke to the U.S.’s recent return to 19th-century “supremacy” doctrines in the Western Hemisphere.