Copenhagen, DENMARK – U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to take over Greenland is causing extreme pressure and could lead to a fundamental change to NATO, said a Danish expert on international relations.
Listen to the author read this story:
Jakob Dreyer, an expert in International Relations at Copenhagen University, explained in an interview with Youth Journalism International how Trump’s increasing focus on Greenland will affect Denmark and the European Union geopolitically.
If the trust built over generations through NATO is broken, it might be restored under a new U.S. administration, but will take a long time to rebuild, according to Dreyer.
For more than a year, Trump has been threatening to take Greenland, a semi-autonomous island owned by Denmark.
In recent weeks, Trump has spoken more seriously about acquiring the island, but both Copenhagen and Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, have said Greenland is not for sale.
Leaders in the EU are avoiding military invasion, said Dreyer, and are seeking to “minimize the risk of military invasion by increasing economic and political cost and offering an off ramp.”
Unless the U.S. escalates something, the EU will continue to work with the U.S. in the future because the EU is very dependent on the U.S., said Dreyer.
The U.S. has the right to establish more military presence in Greenland, and during the Cold War, a much bigger presence.
Denmark wants to increase the military presence in Greenland and is already investing in ice-breaker ships, said Dreyer.
On Wednesday, Danish Minister of Defense Troels Lund Poulsen and John Healey, who is the secretary of state for defense for the United Kingdom, spoke to reporters after meeting in Copenhagen.
The men addressed how Denmark and the UK could strengthen defense cooperation, both between the two nations and through NATO.
Healey said the two countries shared the same values. There is “a new era of threats” that the two countries share, said Healey, adding that the UK would take part in military exercises with Denmark.
Both noted how the nations worked together in Iraq and Afghanistan, with their citizens serving and dying together.
Last week, U.S. Vice President JD Vance and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with both Greenland’s and Denmark’s foreign affairs ministers, Vivian Motzfeldt and Lars Løkke Rasmussen.
After the meeting, the U.S., Greenland and Denmark set up a working group.
Noah Haynes is a Correspondent with Youth Journalism International.
