NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte warned European leaders that they need the U.S. in order to defend themselves, comments that come as tensions between the U.S. and Europe have escalated amid President Donald Trump’s push to acquire Greenland.
“If anyone thinks here again that the European Union, or Europe as a whole, can defend itself without the U.S., keep on dreaming. You can’t. We can’t. We need each other,” Rutte said Monday in Brussels to the European Parliament.
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Without U.S. support, European nations would be required to massively ramp up their defense spending to 10% of their GDP. NATO allies pledged to spend 5% of their GDP on defense last year on defense by 2035. Likewise, Europe would be forced to spend billions of dollars to create a new nuclear deterrent, absent the U.S.
“In that scenario, you will lose the ultimate guarantor of our freedom, which is the U.S. nuclear umbrella. So hey, good luck,” Rutte said.
Rutte’s comments come amid frustration from European allies as Trump has doubled down on his quest to acquire Greenland, and as several European leaders, including Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares, have suggested the European Union create its own joint army.
Trump originally threatened to impose a 10% tariff on all goods from NATO countries that would increase to 25% in June until a deal was reached for the U.S. to secure Greenland, after NATO members dispatched troops to the Danish territory.
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However, Trump backed down from these tariff threats after the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and announced in a post on social media Wednesday that the U.S. and NATO had established a “framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region.”
Likewise, Trump pledged not to use military force to seize the island.
It’s unclear what the deal entails, and Trump told reporters Thursday on Air Force One that the deal was still being negotiated.
Although Greenland has said it wants independence from Copenhagen, Denmark, and doesn’t want to join the U.S., Trump historically has voiced a desire to seize Greenland for the U.S. since his first administration.
Meanwhile, Greenland has said that it prefers to remain aligned with Denmark, despite the complicated history the two countries share due to Denmark’s treatment of indigenous people on the island.
“If we have to choose between the USA and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark,” Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen told reporters Jan. 13, according to translated remarks. “We choose NATO, the Kingdom of Denmark and the EU.”
Still, Rutte said that Trump was correct to stay vigilant about security in the Arctic as Russia and China have both increased their presence there in recent years.
“I think he’s right. There is an issue with the Arctic region,” Rutte said. “There is an issue of collective security, because these sea lanes are opening up, and because the Chinese and the Russians are more and more active.”
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