European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen dramatically called for “permanent” independence from the US and vowed to be “unflinching” in the face of President Trump’s pressure campaign to snatch Greenland.
Von der Leyen warned that Trump’s fixation on Greenland is doing permanent damage and revealed that the EU is planning a “massive European investment surge in Greenland.”
“Nostalgia will not bring back the old order. And playing for time and hoping for things to revert soon will not fix the structural dependencies we have,” Von der Leyen declared at the World Economic Forum.
“If this change is permanent, then Europe must change permanently too.”
Trump, who is set to visit Davos on Wednesday for the World Economic Forum, posted images of text messages he received from European leaders early Tuesday, pleading with him to change course on Greenland. Thus far, he’s declined to do so.
Over the weekend, Trump announced plans to impose 10% tariffs on eight European countries that deployed troops to Greenland earlier this month.
Those tariffs will take effect Feb. 1, and Trump is planning to ratchet them up to 25% in June if he doesn’t control Greenland by then.
“The proposed additional tariffs are a mistake, especially between longstanding allies,” Von der Leyen lamented, stressing that the US and EU inked a trade deal last July. “When friends shake hands, it must mean something.”
“We consider the people of the United States not just our allies, but our friends,” she added. “Our response will be unflinching, united and proportional.”
The EU is currently mulling a €93 billion retaliatory tariff package in response, and some officials want the 27-nation bloc to break out its “trade bazooka” — a menu of actions such as trade restrictions — that was initially conceived as an anti-coersion tool against China.
Looming over all of this is a forthcoming Supreme Court decision on Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose his sweeping tariff regime.
One of Trump’s chief gripes with Greenland is that Russia has been building up a robust military presence in the Arctic over recent years.
To counter that, he wants the US to ramp up there as well, including for the space-based Golden Dome defense system, but contends that if Washington is going to invest so much in the island, then America should control it.
Von der Leyen also teased that the Europeans are readying a major package to invest in Greenland’s infrastructure and security.
“Europe is working on a package to support Arctic security,” she later reiterated on X. “And at the heart of this will be the fundamental principle: it is for sovereign people to decide their own future.”
