Analysis: Why Greenland and Europe might have to offer Trump concessions

Analysis: Why Greenland and Europe might have to offer Trump concessions Europe might offer a minerals deal and greater US security presence on Greenland. But will that be enough to satiate Trump? What can small nations do to prevent being gobbled up by bigger, more powerful ones? This is no abstract question for Greenland right now. It’s very real. And it has no easy answers. Greenland’s autonomy, its future, hangs in the balance. Greenland is a territory of Denmark. Since 2009, it’s been largely self-governing, and has the right to pursue independence at a time of its choosing. Independence is the wish of all its political parties. But with economic self-sufficiency some way off, it’s sticking with Denmark for now. Not if United States President Donald Trump has his way. He wants Greenland for the US. Since the bombing of Venezuela and the abduction of President Nicolas Maduro , realisation has dawned that he is deadly serious about this. The White House has pointedly refused to take military force off the table, although the real estate mogul-turned-president would likely prefer a simple cash deal. Europe is in diplomatic crisis mode. Denmark is a NATO member. The idea of NATO’s chief guarantor - the US - annexing territory from a member state seemed preposterous until recently. No longer. So what can Denmark’s friends do to stop it? The uncomfortable truth is that if Donald Trump sends in troops, Greenland would likely fall in days, perhaps hours. Trump has mocked Denmark’s forces there as “two dogsleds”. And though this doesn’t meet any truth test, his point holds. Greenland is sparsely defended. Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command in Greenland consists of a handful of warships and search and rescue teams. The US, meanwhile, already has a major base in northwestern Greenland, under a 1951 pact that also allows Washington to set up more bases on the island. Nearly 650 personnel are stationed at the base, including US Air Force and Space Force members. Copenhagen is tooling up. It has announced $4.2bn in extra defence spending for the Arctic. And it is buying 16 more F-35 fighter jets (from, of course, the US). But even so, Denmark would have little chance against the full might of the US military. So a diplomatic united front has been launched. As with other Trump-created crises, Europe’s leaders are adopting an approach that could be called transatlantic judo. Like judo wrestlers, they’re trying to redirect Trump’s energy - his strident, America First unilateralism - and persuade him that the best expression of this is collegiate, transatlantic multilaterism. Essentially, they’re saying, “Yes, Donald. You’re absolutely right to raise Arctic security as a big problem. We totally agree. While we’re not sure that invading Greenland is the answer, NATO is the solution.” We’ve heard this message from NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in recent days. And the British and German governments have both suggested NATO forces be deployed to Greenland to boost Arctic security. A German delegation was in Washington, DC, before...

Preview: ~500 words