The top leadership of the European Union will huddle in Brussels on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly threatened Greenland during a speech to the World Economic Forum on Wednesday and then announced a “framework” of a deal that remains unclear.
The European Council is a decision-making body made up of the heads of state and government of all 27 EU member states, as well as EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The question of Greenland, Denmark and the future of the U.S.-EU relationship will be front and centre, as the leaders gather for what is being referred to as an “informal dinner” at 7 p.m. local time, or 1 p.m. eastern.
“We will discuss recent developments in transatlantic relations and their implications for the European Union, and coordinate on the way forward,” European Council President António Costa said in a statement.
Greenland is a semiautonomous territory of NATO and EU member Denmark.
In his speech on Wednesday, Trump said: “Now what I’m asking for is a piece of ice, cold and poorly located that can play a vital role in world peace and world protection.”
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“It’s a very small ask compared to what we have given them for many, many decades,” he continued.
Trump announced shortly after that he had reached a “framework” with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte for “a future deal with respect to Greenland” and “the entire Arctic region.”
In his speech, which went over an hour and a half, Trump reiterated his assertion that the U.S. needed Greenland for “national security” and “international security” purposes.
The White House said Trump is “hopeful” that he can reach a deal with NATO.
“If this deal goes through, and President Trump is very hopeful it will, the United States will be achieving all of its strategic goals with respect to Greenland, at very little cost, forever,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said.
In his Davos speech, Trump said his ask for Greenland includes “right title and ownership.”
However, in a speech on Tuesday, Costa said that “only they, Denmark and Greenland, can decide on their future.”
“We cannot accept that the law of the strongest prevails over the rights of the weakest. Because international rules are not optional. And alliances cannot just boil down to a sequence of transactions,” he said.
He added that Europe would not accept violations of international law anywhere, “whether in Ukraine, Greenland, Latin America, Africa, or in Gaza.”
After announcing the “framework” of a deal on Greenland, Trump added he would no longer impose threatened tariffs on European nations over their support for the Danish territory next month as part of the deal framework, which he announced on his Truth Social platform.
“Based upon a very productive meeting that I have had with the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, we have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region,” Trump wrote.
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