EU leaders have voiced concern over relations with the US at an emergency summit to discuss the issue after Donald Trump’s decision to drop his threat of tariffs against European allies.
The leaders who met in Brussels on Thursday night also faced sharp criticism from Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who accused them of failing to “take the lead in defending freedom”.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the EU has underinvested in Arctic security and that it was “time to step up”.
She said the European Commission will soon propose a substantive investment package for Greenland, the semi-autonomous territory of Denmark.
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Ms von der Leyen also said the EU would use its defence spending surge on Arctic-ready equipment, like a European icebreaker.
“We should strengthen our security and defence arrangement with partners in the region, such as the UK, Canada, Norway and Iceland and others, this has become a real geopolitical necessity so far for Greenland,” she said.
Ms von der Leyen also told leaders she felt that the EU’s “firm but non-escalatory” strategy of pushing for dialogue, but preparing firm retaliatory measures if talks failed, has worked well.
The EU had prepared counter-tariffs to hit €93 billion worth of US trade as an initial response.
Denmark said it will refuse to back any deal involving an increased United States military presence in Greenland that crosses “red lines” about its sovereignty, the country’s prime minister has said.
Talks are expected to take place between the Trump administration, Denmark and Greenland on the outline of a “framework” agreement for the future security of the Arctic island.
European leaders are hopeful the negotiations will resolve the dispute that has rocked transatlantic relations close to breaking point in recent days.
US president Donald Trump dropped threats to use military force or crippling trade tariffs to pressure the kingdom of Denmark to “sell” its semi-autonomous territory, Greenland, to the US.
The breakthrough that averted a confrontation between the US and Europe was brokered during a meeting between Mr Trump and Nato secretary general Mark Rutte in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday.
Initial media reports suggest the outline of the deal sold to Mr Trump could include US bases on Greenland being treated as sovereign American territory. The US has one base on the huge land mass, which acts as a key part of an early warning system to detect any missile fired towards the US from the high north.
The European Union’s 27 leaders took stock of the shaky diplomatic truce during a summit in Brussels. The meeting had been called earlier in the week to discuss how to respond should Mr Trump follow through on threats of new trade tariffs.
Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen said there are certain “red lines” around sovereignty that Copenhagen would not compromise on in any discussions involving the US. “It is clear for everybody that we are a sovereign state and we cannot negotiate about that,” she said on her way into the EU summit on Thursday.
“We have been working very closely with the US for many years. We have to work together respectfully without threatening each other.”
The Danish prime minister pointed to an existing agreement that has allowed Washington to station military personnel and installations on the Arctic island since 1951.
As leaders gathered for the summit the EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said transatlantic relations have “taken a big blow over the last week” but Europeans were “not willing to junk 80 years of good relations”. Summing up the mood, she said the EU was living through a lot of unpredictability: “One day, one way; the other day, again, everything could change.”
French president Emmanuel Macron, still wearing the aviator shades that drew global attention in Davos, said Europe needed to “remain extremely vigilant and ready to use the instruments at our disposal should we find ourselves the target of threats again”.
German chancellor Friedrich Merz welcomed Trump’s change of heart: “I am very grateful that President Trump has distanced himself from his original plans to take over Greenland, and I am also grateful that he has refrained from imposing additional tariffs on 1 February.”
Several EU leaders stressed determination to maintain the US as an ally. “I still treat the United States as our closest friend,” the Lithuanian president, Gitanas Nausėda, said, referencing the two US battalions deployed in his country.
Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said: “Europe should be here absolutely united to protect our relations with our partners on the other side of the Atlantic, even if it is much more difficult than ever before.”
One senior EU official heavily involved in the frantic diplomacy of recent days said they believed any US tariffs would have galvanised national governments to support firmer retaliation. This could include the union’s powerful anti-coercion trade “bazooka” that could limit US companies’ operations in Europe.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said it has been a “challenging few weeks”, but “common sense” prevailed on the Greenland crisis. “I think it’s important now that it’s in a process, that we de-escalate tensions around this,” he said.
“The US-EU relationship is still a very critical relationship, economically, politically, geopolitically, so both sides have to work extremely hard to maintain that relationship,” the Fianna Fáil leader said.
Any undermining of that transatlantic bond would have “very serious repercussions for European citizens and for American citizens”, he said.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy used a speech in Davos to accuse European leaders of being stuck in “Greenland mode” and shifting their focus away from Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.
In a separate address at the World Economic Forum, German chancellor Friedrich Merz said the rise of “great powers” flexing their muscles is causing the old world order to unravel at “breathtaking pace”.
