NATO military chiefs meet in Brussels as Greenland dispute rattles markets

NATO military chiefs gathered in Brussels for a two-day meeting that the alliance’s top officer predicted would be a “detailed, frank discussion,” as President Trump has threatened to take Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark, a fellow NATO member. Adm. Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, the Italian chair of NATO’s military committee, urged officers to protect unity among the alliance’s 32 members, saying “cohesion is the key quality of this group.” Mark Rutte, the NATO secretary general, when asked if he could imagine NATO without the United States, replied simply, “No,” and said the United States “is by far the most powerful nation on earth” and that its president is “the leader of the free world.” Rutte also praised Mr.

Trump for pushing NATO members to spend more on defense. The Greenland dispute has spilled into global markets. The New York Times reported that a sharp sell-off in U.S. assets, triggered by Mr. Trump’s threat to impose sweeping tariffs on European allies over Greenland, spread overseas: Taiwan’s Taiex fell more than 1.5 percent and Japan’s Topix dropped 1 percent, while European markets were mixed.

The dollar weakened against the yen, gold set a fresh record above $4,800 an ounce, and an industry survey said most analysts expected gold to breach $5,000 this year amid “persistent geopolitical uncertainty.” The slide began after Mr. Trump threatened new tariffs against eight European nations unless they facilitated a U.S.

takeover of Greenland.

Key Topics

World, Nato, Greenland, Donald Trump, Mark Rutte, Brussels