The NATO member states have been discussing the deployment of troops to Greenland in response to US President Donald Trump’s threat to use the US military to seize the island, according to a report on The Telegraph’s website, citing diplomatic sources.
German representatives were among the “dozens of European allies” who held informal talks on how to react if the US were to follow through on its threat, the news agency reported. The discussion also touched on the possibility of invoking Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which stipulates that an attack on a member of the alliance is considered an attack on all of them. Denmark, whose autonomous territory of Greenland is a NATO member, was the focus of the conversation.
Germany’s leading news magazine, Der Spiegel, previously reported that the German government was open to the idea of stationing NATO troops in Greenland. Such a move would serve to convey to Trump that European countries share his assessment of the strategic importance of the island for the security of the Arctic and would also prevent the Republican from realizing his plans for the island through military means.
Trump had earlier stated that the US would not rule out the use of military force to gain control over Greenland and the Panama Canal, saying that the island was necessary for the US to ensure its national security. US Vice President JD Vance recently reiterated that the US had a territorial interest in Greenland, regardless of what “the Europeans were crying about”.
Greenland, a former Danish colony, is today an autonomous territory within the kingdom. It is the world’s largest island, located northeast of North America and has a population of around 57,000 people. The island is rich in natural resources.