Trump’s Greenland demands and tariff threats strain U.S.-Europe alliance

President Trump said he would raise tariffs on several European countries unless they let him acquire Greenland, prompting leaders across Europe to ask whether the 80-year-old U.S.-Europe alliance is doomed. European officials are rushing to respond, with some — including President Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s finance minister Lars Klingbeil — urging that Europe consider deploying an economic "bazooka," the article said.

Leaders from across Europe are expected to gather in Brussels this week to present a united response, and veteran observers said the postwar alliance has been fundamentally altered and is increasingly "on Mr. Trump’s terms alone." Analysts quoted in the report said using economic measures against allies is "unprecedented in this way," and that Europe needs to build new economic and military capacities even though that will take years.

The article noted that in the meantime Europe’s businesses remain intertwined with U.S. consumers, and that Ukraine still needs American weapons; it added that NATO cannot fend off Russian aggression without U.S. security guarantees. The same day Mr. Trump announced his latest tariff threat, Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa were in Paraguay signing a long‑sought trade deal with a bloc of Latin American countries, the report said, while Mr.

Trump has "so far been happy to welcome European money to purchase American-made arms for Ukraine and other countries in Eastern Europe." Responses in Europe have varied: Mr.

Key Topics

World, Donald Trump, Greenland, Nato, European Union, Emmanuel Macron