WASHINGTON — An unconstrained U.S. president has sided with Russia in its war of conquest in Europe, seized Venezuela’s dictator from his bed in an attempt to take control of that country’s oil, threatened military strikes against America’s closest neighbors and sent tariffs soaring on its friends.
Donald Trump has gotten away with it all — but his threats to annex Greenland, risking destruction of the Western alliance in its current form, may prove a breaking point in a global order that has benefited the United States for over 75 years.
Canada’s prime minister said Tuesday that the Trump administration’s boorish behavior marks a “rupture,” not merely a transition, in the international system, away from a world where the United States could be relied upon as a force for good. American cardinals in the Catholic Church warned over the weekend that U.S. foreign policy had gone “morally adrift.” France’s president said that Europe now represents a rare refuge where predictability, loyalty, and rule of law still trump the “brutality” of “bullies.”
Trump’s effort to coax allies to his will on Greenland through another round of tariff hikes prompted panic in U.S. markets. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged nearly 900 points, the Standard & Poor’s 500 dropped 2%, and the NASDAQ fell over 500 points. U.S. 30-year Treasury yields spiked. The price of gold hit an all-time high.
“The transatlantic alliance is over,” Kirill Dmitriev, a top confidant to Russian President Vladimir Putin, celebrated on social media.
Trump was set to leave for Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday night for a summit of foreign leaders suddenly fixated on the fate of Greenland, the world’s largest island, which has been under Danish rule since the 18th century.
Top government officials in Denmark and Greenland have warned that any U.S. attempt to annex the territory by force would amount to an act of war and mark the end of the NATO alliance, comments echoed by other leaders across Europe. But Trump has only escalated his threats in recent days, warning of his ambitions over the holiday weekend, “there can be no going back.”
In a news conference at the White House on Tuesday, Trump acknowledged the existential risk posed to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in his bid to take over Danish territory.
Whether his Greenland effort could break up the alliance is a “very interesting” question, Trump told a reporter, adding: “I think something is going to happen that’s going to be very good for everybody.”
“I think we will work something out,” he added. “NATO is going to be very happy and we are going to be very happy.”
Trump dismissed that Greenlanders don’t want to be part of the United States.
“When I speak to them they will be thrilled,” Trump said.
President Trump speaks during a press briefing Tuesday at the White House.
(Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images)
In his own news conference earlier Tuesday, Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, warned the island population to prepare for the unlikely possibility of a U.S. invasion. “A military conflict cannot be ruled out,” he said.
Any acquisition of U.S. land, by agreement or by force, has to be approved by Congress, where bipartisan skepticism began firming up this week.
Several prominent Republican lawmakers have criticized Trump’s threats to seize the island, and to punish European countries that defend Denmark’s Arctic territory. But no substantive steps have been taken thus far to preemptively block the president’s actions.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Rep. Don Bacon (R-Nebraska) have both joined Democrats in their respective chambers to introduce legislation that would prevent Trump from using Defense Department funds to seize the territory of a NATO country or territory, such as Greenland. But no other GOP lawmakers had joined their cause as of Tuesday.
In an interview with the Omaha World-Herald last week, Bacon went as far as to say that if Trump were to follow through with his threats to acquire Greenland, it would be “the end of his presidency.”
“And [Trump] needs to know: The off-ramp is realizing Republicans aren’t going to tolerate this and he’s going to have to back off,” Bacon told the Nebraska newspaper. “He hates being told no, but in this case, I think Republicans need to be firm.”
Republican lawmakers, while critical of Trump’s tactics in recent days, have stopped short of committing to congressional action to stop Trump’s purported plans in Greenland.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said that imposing tariffs on allies for sending troops to Greenland is “bad for America, bad for American businesses and bad for America’s allies” — but in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday he said he was “not going to go to impeachment” on the matter.
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said last week that an attempt to seize the Arctic territory would “shatter the trust of allies” and be “disastrous” for Trump’s legacy.
An address Tuesday by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to the British Parliament showed the fine line Republicans are toeing when it comes to appeasing Trump and allies abroad, as he told them that he was there to help “calm the waters” between the United States and Europe.
“We have always been able to work through our differences calmly as friends,” Johnson said. “We will continue to do that. I want to assure you this morning that that is still the case.”
In his speech to the Davos economic forum, Mark Carney, Canada’s prime minister, described Trump’s bid for Greenland as a stark example of the global order collapsing in real time.
“We knew the story of the international rules-based order was partially false, that the strongest would exempt themselves when convenient, that trade rules were enforced asymmetrically,” Carney said. “This fiction was useful. An American hegemony, in particular, helped provide public goods, open sea lanes, a stable financial system, collective security.
“We know the old order is not coming back,” Carney added. “We shouldn’t mourn it. Nostalgia is not a strategy.”
