European leaders wrestle to understand Trump Greenland head-scratcher

MILAN — Several European leaders have cautioned Donald Trump against violating the sovereignty of other NATO allies across the continent, following comments by the U.S. president-elect that did not rule out using military force to annex Greenland’s territory.

Trump, who will be sworn in on Jan. 20, said earlier this week that he would not preclude employing military or economic action to make the Arctic island part of United States.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was among the first to issue a response to Trump’s statements, which he said sparked “incomprehension” among other European Union governments he was in contact with.

“Borders must not be moved by force – this principle applies to every country, whether in the East or West… [I am] in talks with our European partners, there is an uneasiness regarding statements from the U.S.,” Scholz wrote in a Jan 8. post published on his social media account on X.

The reaction of French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot was more assertive, when he said during an interview that it was inconceivable that the EU would allow other states to attack their sovereign borders.

Barrot added that while he views Trump’s threat to invade Greenland as more theoretical, Europe has nevertheless “entered into a period of survival of the fittest.”

Greenland is an autonomous territory that has been part of Denmark for hundreds of years, where almost the entirety of the population possesses Danish citizenship. The island has its own government, which is led by Prime Minister Mute Egede, and plans to one day become independent.

It is a member of NATO, and as such is protected by the mutual defense pact provided by Article 5.

Trump has expressed interest in taking control of Greenland since 2019, as the island’s strategic importance has grown considerably as a result of ice melting, creating new shipping routes. It is also home to one of the world’s largest rare earth metal layers.

“Greenland has made it clear that it is not for sale and will not be in the future either,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Jan 7. On the same day, Donald Trump Jr was visiting the island.

While the self-governing island is not in the EU, it is still classified as an “overseas territory associated with the EU.” This implies that in the event of military action against Greenland, the EU’s mutual assistance clause would be triggered, which would oblige all member-states to offer aid.

Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo was a Europe correspondent for Defense News. She covers a wide range of topics related to military procurement and international security, and specializes in reporting on the aviation sector. She is based in Milan, Italy.

米兰——美国当选总统唐纳德·特朗普发表了不排除使用武力吞并格陵兰岛领土的言论后，几位欧洲领导人警告他不要侵犯欧洲大陆其他北约盟国的主权。

将于1月20日宣誓就职的特朗普本周早些时候表示，他不排除采取军事或经济手段使北极岛屿成为美国的一部分。

德国总理奥拉夫·朔尔茨是最早对特朗普的言论作出回应的人之一，他表示，特朗普的言论引起了他所联系的其他欧盟国家政府的“不解”。

“边界绝不能用武力移动——这一原则适用于所有国家，无论是东方还是西方……[我]正在与我们的欧洲伙伴进行谈判，对美国的声明感到不安，”舒尔茨在1月8日发布于其社交媒体账户X上的帖子中写道。

法国外交部长让-诺埃尔·巴罗的反应更为强硬，他在接受采访时表示，欧盟绝不可能允许其他国家侵犯其主权边界。

巴罗特补充说，虽然他认为特朗普入侵格陵兰岛的威胁更多是理论上的，但欧洲仍然“进入了适者生存的时期”。

格陵兰岛是一个自治领地，数百年来一直是丹麦的一部分，岛上几乎所有居民都拥有丹麦国籍。该岛拥有自己的政府，由首相穆特·埃格德领导，并计划有朝一日独立。

它是北约成员国，因此受到北约第五条规定的共同防御条约的保护。

自2019年以来，特朗普就表达了对控制格陵兰岛的兴趣，因为冰川融化开辟了新的航道，使得该岛的战略重要性显著提升。此外，格陵兰岛还拥有世界上最大的稀土金属矿层之一。

丹麦首相梅特·弗雷德里克森1月7日表示：“格陵兰岛已经明确表示，它现在不出售，将来也不会出售。” 同一天，小唐纳德·特朗普访问了该岛。

虽然这个自治岛屿不属于欧盟，但它仍然被归类为“与欧盟相关的海外领土”。这意味着，如果格陵兰岛遭受军事行动，欧盟的互助条款将被触发，所有成员国都有义务提供援助。

伊丽莎白·戈斯林-马洛曾任《防务新闻》欧洲通讯员。她的报道涵盖军事采购和国际安全等广泛领域，尤其擅长航空领域的报道。她常驻意大利米兰。