UK, Germany talk NATO forces in Greenland to calm US threat

Alberto Nardelli, Alex Wickham and Michael Nienaber, Bloomberg News on Jan 11, 2026

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A group of European countries, led by the U.K. and Germany, is discussing plans for a military presence in Greenland to show U.S. President Donald Trump that the continent is serious about Arctic security and to try to tamp down American threats to take over the self-ruling Danish territory.

Germany will propose setting up a joint NATO mission to protect the Arctic region, according to people familiar with the plans. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has separately urged allies to step up their security presence in the High North and recently reached out to leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to discuss the issue.

The U.S. raid to capture the leader of Venezuela this month, as well as heightened rhetoric from the Trump administration on possibly using military force to control Greenland, has forced European leaders to quickly cobble together a strategy. They want to show that Europe and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have the region’s security under control, as they try to undercut Trump’s argument for taking over Greenland, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul will meet with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week, when he’ll address the issue of Greenland and what role NATO can play in the region’s stability.

“Because security in the Arctic is becoming increasingly important, I also want to discuss on my trip how we can best bear this responsibility in NATO — in view of old and new rivalries in the region by Russia and China — together,” Wadephul said in a statement on Sunday. “We want to discuss this together in NATO.”

While Trump has long mused about making Greenland a part of the U.S. for national security reasons, his focus on the self-governing island has intensified in recent days following the U.S. raid to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

That action sparked new fears among allies over Trump’s willingness to deploy the military to achieve his foreign policy goals. His fiery rhetoric over Greenland has spurred a flurry of diplomatic activity as officials try to ascertain his intentions.

Trump insisted Sunday night that the U.S. would “own” Greenland.

“We’re talking about acquiring, not leasing, not having it short-term, we’re talking about acquiring and if we don’t do it, Russia or China will and that’s not going to happen while I’m president,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned to Washington from Florida.

Trump acknowledged there was already a large U.S. military base in Greenland. He said he could build up the forces on the base, but “we have to have ownership. You really need title, as they say in the real estate business.”

Germany will propose establishing a NATO mission called “Arctic Sentry” to secure the region, according to the people. The alliance’s “Baltic Sentry” mission, which was launched a year ago to shield critical infrastructure in the Baltic Sea, would serve as a blueprint.

Starmer’s view is that Britain and Europe are best served by persuading Trump of their soft and hard power utility to the U.S. on issues from Russia’s war in Ukraine to American security closer to home, people familiar with the matter said. It contrasts with the more publicly critical stance adopted by countries like France, which this week warned that Europe was under threat from American coercion.

Starmer spoke with Trump last week and “discussed Euro-Atlantic security and agreed on the need to deter an increasingly aggressive Russia in the High North,” Downing Street said. “The NATO alliance needed to step up in the region,” Starmer told Macron and Merz.

For now, Denmark is still hoping a diplomatic trip to Washington this coming week can temper Trump. The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland, Lars Lokke Rasmussen and Vivian Motzfeldt, are aiming to confront what Copenhagen says are persistent factual errors and exaggerated security claims driving the debate.

While the president has said he won’t rule out military force to acquire the Arctic island, Rubio late Tuesday told lawmakers the aim is to buy Greenland rather than staging an intervention that could test the future of NATO.

“The legitimate interests of all NATO allies, but also those of the inhabitants of the region, must be at the heart of our considerations,” Wadephul said. “Of course, this also applies to Greenland and its people.”

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(With assistance from Arne Delfs.)