European leaders warned Donald Trump not to meddle with the continent’s borders on Wednesday, a day after the president-elect refused to rule out taking Greenland by force.
The comments by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and France’s foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot came a day after Trump set out his designs on Greenland and the Panama Canal.
Greenland, the world’s largest island, is an autonomous Danish territory that is not itself part of the EU.
“Borders must not be moved by force,” Scholz said, arguing that “the principle of inviolability of borders applies to every country, regardless of whether it is to the east or west of us”.
The German chancellor added: “In my discussions with our European partners, a certain lack of understanding has emerged with regard to recent statements from the US.”
Denmark retains control of Greenland’s foreign and security policy, despite the territory’s 1985 departure from the EU after a referendum.
“There is obviously no question of the EU letting other nations in the world, whoever they are, and I would even say starting with Russia, attack its sovereign borders,” Barrot told the France Inter radio station on Wednesday after being asked about the prospect of a US attempt to take Greenland from Denmark by force.
The French foreign minister added he did not expect Trump to invade Greenland, but said Europe needed to “wake up” to a more insecure world, echoing comments from French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this week. “We are a strong continent, we need to strengthen ourselves further,” he said.
The EU’s treaty contains a mutual defence clause that specifies if any member is “a victim of armed aggression on its territory”, other states “have towards it an obligation of aid and assistance by all the means in their power”. The measure has been invoked once, by France, after the 2015 Paris terror attacks.
The European Commission confirmed the mutual defence clause would apply to Greenland in the hypothetical event of military aggression against it, despite the island territory not being part of the EU.
In 2019, during his first term, Trump said the US should take control of Greenland — a suggestion Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen labelled at the time as “absurd”.
Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Danish foreign minister, said on Wednesday he was ready to talk to the US about “how we can possibly co-operate even more closely to ensure that American ambitions [in the Arctic] are fulfilled”. Múte Egede, Greenland’s prime minister, met Danish King Frederik X during the day.
Departing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken added at a Paris press conference that Trump’s idea of taking control of Greenland was “obviously not a good one” and was “obviously not going to happen”.
At this week’s press conference, Trump vowed to “tariff Denmark at a very high level” unless the country gave up Greenland. He also suggested the US could annex Canada and called on Nato members to spend 5 per cent of their GDP on defence, more than double the current target.
Asked whether he would exclude the use of military or economic coercion to acquire Greenland or assume control of the Panama Canal, the president-elect said: “No, I can’t assure you on either of those two. But I can say this, we need them for economic security . . . We need Greenland for national security reasons.”
EU leaders are “deeply disturbed by Trump’s comments,” said a senior EU official involved in conversations between national capitals in recent days.
“Each day there’s a new concern for us [from Trump],” the senior EU official said, adding that the visit of Trump’s son Donald Jr to Greenland on Tuesday had startled the bloc.
The EU has also been unnerved by Elon Musk, the Tesla boss and Trump confidant, who has backed the far-right Alternative for Germany ahead of the country’s election and assailed Britain’s Labour government.
“The international far right, which we have been denouncing for years, is led by the richest man on the planet and is openly attacking our institutions,” said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, in a speech to mark 50 years since the death of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco.
“It stirs up hatred and is supporting the heirs of Nazism in Germany in the elections.”
Barrot called on the European Commission “to make more vigorous use of the tools that we have given it democratically”, noting recent EU legislation to moderate online content.
“Public debate cannot be relocated to large social media platforms owned by American billionaires without any regulatory oversight,” the French foreign minister added.
Additional reporting by Barney Jopson in Madrid
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