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Greenland's sovereignty not up for negotiation, Denmark says after Trump eases threats
Thursday morning brought a sense of relief but also lingering anxiety across Europe, with unanswered questions about what Trump's new Greenland deal might entail.
LONDON — European nations may have averted immediate economic and military collision with President Donald Trump over Greenland, but anxiety lingered across the continent Thursday, with Denmark insisting “we cannot negotiate on our sovereignty.”
Rutte told reporters at the summit Thursday that this agreement involved NATO stepping up Arctic security as early as the first half of the year.
"You can always take Donald Trump at his word," he said.
Negotiations on a deal are preliminary, with Trump describing it as a “framework,” and it’s not clear he will secure a final agreement or what that would entail. Nevertheless, there has certainly been a sense of relief among European leaders and officials.
“It is good news that we are making steps into that right direction,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said at Davos. “I welcome President Trump’s remarks from last night — this is the right way to go.”
President Donald Trump, surrounded by world leaders, signs a founding charter for his Board of Peace, in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday.Fabrice Coffrini / AFP - Getty Images
“The day is ending on a better note than it began,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said Wednesday night.
But few believe that it will be easy to heal the diplomatic chasm cleaved by Trump’s hostile comments toward Washington’s historical European friends.
That divide was on display Thursday morning at the launch ceremony of Trump’s Board of Peace in Davos.
American allies such as France and Britain have declined Trump's invitation to join. France said it was uneasy that the body could seek to supplant the United Nations, while Britain was put off by Trump's invitation to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was not invited to Davos and would have risked arrest had he gone because he is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes.
Those who have accepted include Saudi Arabia — an absolute monarchy whose war in Yemen triggered a humanitarian catastrophe — and effective dictatorships such as Belarus and Egypt. Hungary, which the European Union calls an "electoral autocracy," Bulgaria and close U.S. ally Israel also joined.
“We have concerns about President Putin being part of something which is talking about peace,” Britain’s top diplomat, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, told the BBC on Thursday.
Questions also hang over the Greenland talks between Trump and Rutte. The New York Times has reported that NATO officials are discussing the possibility of the U.S. “obtaining sovereignty over land for military bases” on Greenland, citing three unnamed Western officials.
Asked about this report, NATO spokesperson Allison Hart told NBC News that Rutte did not propose any compromise on sovereignty during his meeting with Trump.
As part of a 1951 agreement, the U.S. already has wide scope to establish bases on Greenland, a key listening post during the Cold War from which Washington could look out for Soviet missiles.
But the idea of actually ceding land has been firmly ruled out by Denmark, its government said Thursday.
A statue of Hans Egede, a Dano-Norwegian Lutheran missionary, overlooks buildings in Nuuk, Greenland, on Wednesday. Mads Claus Rasmussen / AFP - Getty Images
“We can negotiate on everything political; security, investments, economy. But we cannot negotiate on our sovereignty,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement. “I have been informed that this has not been the case either.”
“Only Denmark and Greenland themselves can make decisions on issues concerning Denmark and Greenland,” she added.
Denmark sought to continue talks with its allies over strengthening security in the Arctic, "provided that this is done with respect for our territorial integrity,” she said.
Trump also provided little information about the compromise he said he reached with Rutte.
The “solution, if consummated, will be a great one for the United States of America, and all NATO Nations,” he said on his Truth Social platform. He added that he would no longer be imposing tariffs on eight NATO allies that had been scheduled to start Feb. 1.
Some of Trump's American supporters cheered on his more muscular approach to diplomacy with longtime U.S. allies.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who has for decades championed the transatlantic alliance, said that the president had convinced him that “providing the United States legal title to Greenland through a lawful and fair process” was the best option.
He also chided and caricatured the European approach.
“Weak and humorless is no way to go through life,” he posted on X. “The European model of giving great speeches then sipping schnapps, all while failing to stand up to evil doesn’t work.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Trump in Davos on Thursday. @ZelenskyyUa via X
Still undoubtedly bruised, European officials will hope Thursday’s focus at Davos centers on Ukraine, which is still fighting off Russia’s near four-year invasion amid the internecine, diplomatic chaos engulfing its Western backers.
Speaking at a breakfast meeting focused on the conflict, Rutte urged leaders to “keep our eyes on the ball of Ukraine.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Davos on Thursday and met with Trump. Meanwhile, Putin will meet Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
