Last weekend, Trump threatened to increase trade tariffs for European countries which oppose his attempt to acquire Greenland. Since the tariff threats, the European Union has been contemplating its response, with some members calling for the implementation of the bloc's never-before-used trade bazooka option of retaliatory tariffs and restrictions. Given Europe's decades-long dependence on Washington, which has only deepened in recent years, could the EU take action against the US, and could that risk a serious transatlantic rift?
Donald Trump has presented NATO with an existential dilemma. The U.S. president has long been attacking the military organization. He has even gone so far as to question its very core, its fundamental principle: the mutual defense clause. Now, the White House's threats against Greenland, an autonomous territory that is part of Denmark a NATO member like the United States without ruling out military action, could shatter the transatlantic alliance on which Europe has relied for its security since the end of World War II.