In one year in the White House, Trump exposed Europe’s fragility

The Greenland crisis: Europe holds an emergency meeting on Donald Trump’s tariffs The first anniversary of Donald Trump’s return to the White House, this Tuesday (20), reveals a weakened Europe and under attack from its greatest transatlantic ally. The target of the moment is Greenland, the object of greed of the US president, who is threatening to apply, from February onwards, 10% tariffs on products from France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Finland, as they do not agree with his obsessive project of annexing the semi-autonomous territory of Denmark. ✅ Follow the g1 international news channel on WhatsApp Tariffs will rise to 25% in June if these countries do not give in, Trump warned on his social network. In this way, the American president is once again playing to scramble the world order and highlight the dependence and subservience of traditional US partners. The escalation of tensions between the USA and Europe puts NATO at an unprecedented and decisive moment in 76 years, in which its unity is at risk. This is a member country under threat from another — in this case, the alliance’s largest contributor. If the conquest of Greenland was seen as yet another bravado by Trump, it is now taken seriously by his peers. So much so that several European countries sent troops to the island under the pretext of military exercises, angering the American president. In the first year of Trump’s second term, it became clear that the Europeans’ conciliatory strategy did not mitigate the president’s bellicose rhetoric, first in relation to Ukraine invaded by Russia and now with his ambition for Greenland, rich in rare minerals and considered by him vital for US security. This argument, however, falls apart, since the protection of its 27 members is NATO’s primary function. Washington’s expansionist saga aimed at a European ally is worrying. “Not so much for the 10% tariff itself, but for its justification: taking territory from an ally and trying to publicly coerce its allies. How would the world react if China or Russia sent a threat like this to some of their allies?” considered Faisal Islam, BBC economics editor. From this perspective, Trump equates his imperialist stance with that of Putin, leaving Europe fragile and, at the same time, trapped between the USA and Russia. Beforehand, the fragmentation of NATO would benefit Moscow and Beijing and destabilize European security. The continent is home to 31 bases and 19 US military installations, totaling around 70,000 military personnel sheltered, largely in countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy. The bloc’s reaction, traditionally cautious and a reflection of the historical accommodation to the dependence on the USA in its defense, began to take a more forceful form in retaliatory measures. The President of the United States, Donald Trump, on January 14, 2026 REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, proposed the activation of the Anti-Coercion Instrument, a tool nicknamed “commercial bazooka” to limit the actions of American technology companies and other service providers. Created in 2023, this weapon has not yet been used by the European Union. European leaders expressed clear dissatisfaction with what they called blackmail carried out by Trump. “No intimidation or threat will influence us,” Macron wrote. In a call to the American president, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer classified the application of tariffs as “completely wrong”. The experience of the last year has shown that it is more dangerous to give in to Trump’s pressure than to resist, says Gideon Rachman, columnist for the British newspaper “Financial Times”. “The answer is that, to avoid the worst results, European leaders need to react now. Over the last year, they have tried to calm tempers and cajole. And that is exactly what they have achieved. They need to change course immediately,” says Rachman. In his first year in the White House, Trump eroded the relationship with Europe. And, however harsh it may be, the bloc’s response to the American president’s erratic advances comes late. Infographic shows the strategic position of Greenland Editoria de Arte/g1 READ ALSO: Trump blames Norway for not winning the Nobel Prize and says ‘he no longer feels obliged to think only about peace’ Trump says that Denmark failed to remove the ‘Russian threat’ from Greenland and claims that ‘the time has come’ American Virgin Islands, the territory in the Caribbean that Denmark agreed to sell to the USA more than 100 years ago

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