The highest leadership of the European Union will huddle in Brussels on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly threatened Greenland during a speech to the World Economic Forum on Wednesday after which announced a “framework” of a deal that is still unclear.
The European Council is a decision-making body made up of the heads of state and government of all 27 EU member states, in addition to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The query of Greenland, Denmark and the longer term of the U.S.-EU relationship can be front and centre, because the leaders gather for what’s being known as an “informal dinner” at 7 p.m. local time, or 1 p.m. eastern.
“We are going to discuss recent developments in transatlantic relations and their implications for the European Union, and coordinate on the best way forward,” European Council President António Costa said in a press release.
Greenland is a semiautonomous territory of NATO and EU member Denmark.
In his speech on Wednesday, Trump said: “Now what I’m asking for is a bit of ice, cold and poorly positioned that may play a significant role in world peace and world protection.”
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“It’s a really small ask in comparison with what we’ve given them for a lot of, many many years,” he continued.
Trump announced shortly after that he had reached a “framework” with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte for “a future take care of respect to Greenland” and “the complete Arctic region.”
In his speech, which went over an hour and a half, Trump reiterated his assertion that the U.S. needed Greenland for “national security” and “international security” purposes.
The White House said Trump is “hopeful” that he can reach a take care of NATO.
“If this deal goes through, and President Trump may be very hopeful it’ll, the US can be achieving all of its strategic goals with respect to Greenland, at little or no cost, eternally,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said.
In his Davos speech, Trump said his ask for Greenland includes “right title and ownership.”
Nevertheless, in a speech on Tuesday, Costa said that “only they, Denmark and Greenland, can settle on their future.”
“We cannot accept that the law of the strongest prevails over the rights of the weakest. Because international rules should not optional. And alliances cannot just boil right down to a sequence of transactions,” he said.
He added that Europe wouldn’t accept violations of international law anywhere, “whether in Ukraine, Greenland, Latin America, Africa, or in Gaza.”
After announcing the “framework” of a deal on Greenland, Trump added he would not impose threatened tariffs on European nations over their support for the Danish territory next month as a part of the deal framework, which he announced on his Truth Social platform.
“Based upon a really productive meeting that I actually have had with the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, we’ve formed the framework of a future take care of respect to Greenland and, in reality, the complete Arctic Region,” Trump wrote.
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