Trump revives Greenland demand and raises prospect of Europe troop pullout
At NATO talks in Ankara, Trump said Greenland should be under U.S. control and suggested Washington could withdraw troops from Europe.
By Marcus V. Thorne · Markets Editor
· 3 min read
President Donald Trump renewed his demand for U.S. control of Greenland on Tuesday and said Washington could remove all U.S. service members from Europe if the continent continues to resist the idea. The remarks introduced a sharp territorial dispute into a NATO summit in Ankara, where leaders from the alliance’s 32 member countries gathered to discuss defense spending, industrial production and support for Ukraine.
Trump made the comments shortly after arriving in Turkey for the summit, during a bilateral meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Bestepe Presidential Compound. Greenland is a self-governing island territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, which is a NATO member.
The president told reporters that Greenland “should be controlled by the United States,” reviving a position that has caused repeated friction with Denmark and other European allies. CNBC reported that Trump said Europe’s refusal to support his position on Greenland had damaged his ties with NATO.
“Because Greenland doesn’t help Denmark. Denmark doesn’t spend money to really help Greenland, but it’s an important part for the United States,” Trump said, according to CNBC.
Trump linked the dispute to U.S. spending in Europe and to the alliance’s posture toward Russia. “And when they wouldn’t go along with it, and with all the money we spend to help them with Russia, we don’t have to spend any money,” he said. “We could remove all of our soldiers out of Europe.”
A U.S. troop withdrawal from Europe would be a major political signal inside NATO because American forces form part of the alliance’s military presence on the continent. Trump did not give a timetable, specify which countries would be affected, or say whether any formal order had been issued.
Trump also repeated claims that Greenland faces pressure from Chinese and Russian ships. The Associated Press has reported that experts on Greenland have rejected those claims about foreign military threats to the island.
Greenland’s strategic position in the Arctic has made it a recurring focus of U.S. security debates. The island is vast, lightly populated and largely frozen, and Trump has argued for years that control of it is important to American national security.
The issue first became a major diplomatic flashpoint during Trump’s earlier presidency. In 2019, he said his administration was interested in buying Greenland, while also saying at the time that the idea was “not number one on the burner.”
CNBC reported that NATO faced a crisis in January after Trump demanded that the United States take control of Greenland on national security grounds. His latest comments brought the issue back into the center of transatlantic politics at a summit already focused on defense burdens, the war in Ukraine and Europe’s military capacity.
Trump broadened his criticism of Europe beyond Greenland, warning allies about immigration and energy policy. “They better be careful,” he said of Europe, according to CNBC. “If they’re not careful with those two things, you’re not going to have a Europe anymore.”
Trump ended the portion of the Erdogan meeting that was open to reporters after making the remarks. No response from Denmark, Greenlandic officials or NATO leaders was included in CNBC’s account.
This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.
