EU–US Ties Suffer Major Strain Over Trump’s Greenland Push

By Staff, Agencies

Relations between the European Union and the United States have suffered a serious setback following President Donald Trump’s aggressive rhetoric on Greenland, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has said.

Trump has demanded that Greenland, an autonomous territory of EU member Denmark, come under US control, citing its strategic Arctic location and mineral resources.

Earlier this week, he urged Copenhagen to enter “immediate negotiations” and threatened European countries opposing the move with tariffs.

Although Trump later claimed to have agreed with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on a vague “framework of a future deal” on Greenland, he offered no clarity on the island’s future ownership, leaving European concerns unresolved.

Speaking ahead of an emergency European Council meeting, Kallas warned that Washington’s posture risks undermining decades of cooperation.

“The transatlantic relations have definitely taken a big blow over the last week,” she said, noting that US behavior toward the EU has become increasingly unpredictable even before the Greenland dispute.

Kallas stressed that while Brussels does not want to abandon “80 years of good relations,” trust has eroded significantly.

“These relations are not the same as they were,” she said, adding that recent developments have reinforced European unease despite Trump’s partial softening of tone.

Tensions between Washington and Brussels have intensified since Trump’s return to office, fueled by disputes over trade, defense spending, digital regulation, and the Ukraine conflict.

Trump has repeatedly threatened tariffs against the EU, criticized European NATO members, and described the bloc as strategically unreliable.

The growing rift has prompted European leaders to reassess long-standing assumptions, with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz recently warning that the era of “Pax Americana” — with the US as Europe’s primary security guarantor — has come to an end.