Le Journal

By LORNE COOK BRUSSELS (AP) — “Intimidation,” “threats” and “blackmail” are just some of the terms being used by European Union leaders to describe U.S. President Donald Trump’s warning that he will slap new tariffs on nations opposing American control of Greenland. Related Articles Inequality and unease are rising as elite Davos event opens with pro-business Trump set to attend What to know about the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos Diplomacy or retaliation? The EU mulls its options as tensions with U.S. rise over Greenland Pro-Greenland protesters mock Trump’s MAGA slogan with ‘Make America Go Away’ caps Trump’s Board of Peace has several invited leaders trying to figure out how it’ll work European language has hardened since Trump returned to the White House 12 months ago. Now it’s in reaction to the previously unthinkable idea that NATO’s most powerful member would threaten to seize the territory of another ally. Trade retaliation is likely should Trump make good on his tariff announcement. A year into Trump 2.0, Europe’s faith in the strength of the transatlantic bond is fading fast. For some, it’s already disappeared. The flattery of past months has not worked and tactics are evolving as the Europeans try to manage threats from an old ally just as they confront the threat of an increasingly hostile Russia. Trump’s first term brought NATO to the brink of collapse. “I feared that NATO was about to stop functioning,” former Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg wrote in his recent memoir, after the U.S. president had threatened to walk out of a 2018 summit. Now, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is warning that should he try to annex Greenland, a semiautonomous part of Denmark, “then everything stops … including our NATO.” “We are at the very early stage of a rather deep political-military crisis,” said Maria Martisiute, a European Policy Centre analyst. “There is a greater realization, even though political leaders will not like to admit it, that America has abandoned NATO.” FILE – President Donald Trump speaks before he signs a presidential memorandum imposing tariffs and investment restrictions on China in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, March 22, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File) Reading the riot act In January 2025, U.S. allies at NATO were waiting to hear Trump’s plans for Ukraine. Europe’s biggest land war in decades was about to enter its fourth year. The Europeans believed that President Vladimir Putin would pose an existential threat to their territory should Russia win. Few thought that Biden administration policies would continue. But within weeks, any lingering hopes for the U.S. commitment to Ukraine dissolved. American arms supplies and funds began to dry up. Europe would have to fill the gap and pay for U.S. help. In a speech at NATO headquarters in February, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth read the riot act to European allies and Canada. The United States had priorities elsewhere and Europe must handle security in its own backyard. Ukraine would not join the alliance. Its territory seized by Russia would not be returned. The Europeans could pull together a force to help Ukraine if they wanted, but they wouldn’t get U.S. help if they went into the country and got attacked. Trump has since blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the invasion. Days later that February, in Munich, Vice President JD Vance met the leader of a far-right party during election campaigning in Germany. He claimed that Europe’s main threat was internal, not Russia. Free speech is “in retreat” across the continent, Vance warned. But after winning the poll, Chancellor Friedrich Merz, said that “in view of the increasing threat situation,” Germany and Europe “must now very quickly make very big efforts, very quickly,” to strengthen their defense capabilities. Chairman of the Naalakkersuisut, Greenland, Jens-Frederik Nielsen and Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen,…

David Leaper, 53, has run The Devon Arms in Torquay since 2019 but told the Daily Mail he has been taking just £100 for a 50 hour week for the last six years.