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Donald Trump renewed his posturing about the United States seizing control of Greenland in the wake of his military incursion into Venezuela, prompting Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to warn that a military attack on the territory would effectively end NATO and that "everything stops" for the alliance that has maintained peace in Europe for decades, according to a report from Bloomberg.
Over the weekend, Trump ordered a military strike on Caracas, Venezuela, capturing President Nicolás Maduro and taking him to face "narco-terrorism" charges in the US. This act, widely criticized as illegal and denounced by world leaders, also emboldened Trump and his administration to threaten similar strikes everywhere from Mexico to Cuba to Colombia. It also saw him reiterate his claim that the US "must" annex Greenland for "defense" purposes.
Both Greenland and Denmark, which controls the Arctic island as an autonomous territory, have long rebuked these threats from Trump, asserting that Greenland is "not for sale." Residents of the territory have also expressed strong opposition to the possibility of becoming part of the U.S.
Speaking with Danish broadcaster TV2 for an interview on Monday, Frederiksen escalated her concerns, warning that military action against Greenland, and by extension, Denmark, would mark the end of NATO, and that the rest of Europe should take Trump's threats seriously.
"One should take the American president seriously when he says that he wants Greenland," Fredriksen said. "If the US chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops, including NATO and thus the security that has been established since the end of the Second World War."
Established following the end of WWII, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a military alliance, currently made up of 32 member nations, meant to primarily act as a deterrent against another major global conflict. Under the organization's Article 5, member nations agree to provide mutual defense to another member nation if it comes under attack by an outside party.
Both Denmark and the US are members of NATO, so an attack by one against the other would create a serious conflict in enacting Article 5, especially since the US boasts the largest single military force of any NATO member.
In response to Trump's renewed rhetoric, leaders from France and Germany voiced their support for Greenland. In a statement to Sky News, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer also spoke out in support of Greenland and affirmed Fredriksen's warning.
“I stand with her, and she’s right about the future of Greenland,” Starmer said.
