After 80 years of peaceful cooperation, President Donald Trump’s tariff threats against countries opposing his efforts to take over Greenland have become the “final straw” for many European governments, which now view a “divorce” from the United States as “inevitable,” according to a Politico report.
“In private, dismayed European officials describe Trump’s rush to annex the sovereign Danish territory as ‘crazy’ and ‘mad,’ asking if he is caught up in his ‘warrior mode’ after his Venezuela adventure — and saying he deserves Europe’s toughest retaliation for what many see as a clear and unprovoked ‘attack’ against allies on the other side of the Atlantic.”
One European diplomat told Politico that Trump’s Greenland threats are being “perceived as one step too far.”
“There is a shift in U.S. policy and in many ways it is permanent,” a senior official with a European government added. “Waiting it out is not a solution. What needs to be done is an orderly and coordinated movement to a new reality.”
Politico reported that the result could be “a radical reshaping of the West that would upend the global balance of power,” which could include transatlantic economic damage and security risks.
And America’s “ability to project hard power into Africa and the Middle East” could also be damaged, “without access to the network of bases, airstrips and logistical support that Europe currently provides.”
That breakup may have already begun.
“National security advisers from 35 governments are in regular contact, meeting frequently online and in person, as well as interacting via less formal text messaging. They are accustomed to seeking multilateral solutions in a world where Trump is a big part of the problem.”
And national leaders across Europe, including those from the U.K., France, Germany, Finland, Italy, and the European Commission, “regularly text with each other — often in the same group chat.”
Their focus had been on Trump’s actions more than his words, but the American president’s “hell-raising over Greenland has now tipped the balance.”
The military might of this new European coalition would be “vast,” Politico noted, especially if Ukraine is included in the burgeoning new security alliance.