“I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland,” wrote Emmanuel Macron in a private message to Donald Trump this week. Trump posted the text on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, seemingly to humiliate the French president. As Russia’s war physically tears into Ukraine, Trump’s phoney war on Europe over Greenland risks breaking apart the western defence alliance Nato. For their trouble, they now face 10% tariffs from 1 February, rising to 25% from 1 June, if Trump does not get Greenland. “The EU wants to de-escalate with Trump over Greenland but still show that it has the capacity to exert leverage over him.

Source: The Guardian January 21, 2026 17:51 UTC