Greenland is not a marginal issue for Europeans. Threats against it cut to the heart of the idea of Europe, of sovereignty, international law and trust. Key European leaders recently stressed they are united in their position that it is up to Denmark and Greenland to decide their own fate — and no one else. The potential for a crisis is real, and what is most confounding is that this would be a crisis that is entirely unnecessary and easily avoidable.
Threatening to annex territory belonging to a NATO ally strikes at the very foundation of the alliance. NATO is not merely a military grouping; it is a community of liberal democracies that has endured precisely because its members trust — and do not threaten — one another. They consult, negotiate and resolve disputes peacefully. This shared political culture is not a luxury — it is NATO’s greatest strategic asset. It sets us apart from those that depend on threats and tricks to keep their “friends” together.
If allies begin to doubt that their sovereignty will be respected by their partners, why should adversaries believe that the alliance would defend our sovereignty against external threats? What is at stake here is not Greenland itself, but the future of the trans-Atlantic relationship.
That unique asset is now at risk. President Trump has suggested that he might have to choose between Greenland and NATO. For Europeans, that is a deeply unsettling statement. For Americans who value NATO, it should be equally alarming.
Read the whole article at the NYT:
Wolfgang Ischinger, former German ambassador to Washington and is chairman of the Munich Security Conference, NYT Opinion: Trump’s Greenland Threats Will Boomerang on America https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/18/opinion/trump-greenland-nato.html