Several hours after issuing an unprecedented statement against President Trump's threats to take over Greenland, the leaders of France, Germany and the U.K. stood side by side with Trump's top advisers in Paris and announced joint security guarantees for Ukraine.
Why it matters: The events of the last few days — in particular, Trump's renewed threats on Greenland in the aftermath of the Venezuela raid — left real doubts in Europe about whether the transatlantic alliance still exists.
- A senior Trump adviser acknowledged there's deep concern in Europe about Greenland but stressed the administration's plans and discussions on this issue are in the very early stages.
- "In any case the security guarantees to Ukraine and Greenland are two separate things," the Trump adviser said.
Between the lines: European officials are treating them as such, in public at least, whatever their private doubts about whether an à la carte security alliance with Washington is sustainable.
- "Of course it's weird, but we have to play with the cards we have. The Greenland issue does make everything even more complicated," a senior European diplomat said.
- Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has said a U.S. move on Greenland would mean the end of the NATO alliance, a fear that has rippled across the continent.
Driving the news: Leaders from the 30-strong "coalition of the willing" met in Paris on Tuesday to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine.
- Hanging over the proceedings was Trump's renewed interest in taking Greenland from Denmark, a NATO member.
- Shortly before the meeting began, several of the leaders present had released a joint statement saying it was "for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland."
- Denmark has realized in recent weeks that its strategy of quiet ally-to-ally persuasion on Greenland had failed to move Trump, a Danish official told Axios. "This is why it is such a serious situation. This is also why our allies and partners come out publicly against it and sound the alarm."
Split screen: The Paris meeting itself was successful, with Ukraine, its European backers and the U.S. converging more closely than ever on security guarantees.
- At its conclusion, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron even signed a declaration alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pledging to send troops to Ukraine as part of a post-war deterrence force.
- White House envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were bullish afterwards in a press conference alongside Zelensky and the European leaders. The security guarantees were "largely finished" and had Trump's strong support, Witkoff said.
- "Those security protocols are meant to deter any further attacks on Ukraine and if there are any attacks, they are meant to defend. And they will do both. The president does not back down from his commitments," Witkoff added, in the strongest statement the administration has made on this topic to date.
Friction point: Things got awkward moments later, when a reporter asked Starmer if such commitments meant anything when Trump was currently musing about seizing the territory of an ally, Denmark, that the U.S. has also pledged to defend. Starmer gave a brief non-answer.
- Later on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reiterated that Trump intends to acquire Greenland one way or the other, and "the U.S. military is always an option at the commander-in-chief's disposal."
- "President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the U.S., and it's vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region. The President and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal," Leavitt said.
The other side: The Danish government has been in crisis mode for the past few weeks, and particularly the last 72 hours.
- Administration contacts in recent months have been more reassuring in private, the Danish official said. "Everyone we talked to said that they wanted to work to get things back on track and into the usual working mechanisms."
- Then top Trump aide Stephen Miller went on CNN on Monday and declared U.S. policy had been and would remain taking full control over Greenland. "Nobody is going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland," he said.
- Trump has repeated his position that the U.S. "needs" Greenland, and his claim that the Arctic island is surrounded by Russian and Chinese ships (the Danish official said that contradicts the intelligence assessments of both the U.S. and Denmark).
What's next: On Tuesday, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his counterpart from Greenland, Vivian Motzfeldt, officially requested a meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss the crisis.
