Ahmed Kamel – Egypt Daily News
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has delivered a blunt warning to European leaders, saying the continent cannot defend itself without the United States, as strains deepen in transatlantic relations under President Donald Trump and fears grow that Washington could reassess its commitment to the alliance.
Speaking to lawmakers at the European Parliament, Rutte dismissed suggestions that Europe could stand alone militarily. “If anyone thinks here again that the European Union, or Europe as a whole, can defend itself without the US, keep on dreaming. You can’t,” he said.
Rutte’s remarks come as European leaders face renewed pressure to strengthen their own defense capabilities, following a series of confrontations with Washington over Greenland and broader questions about America’s role in NATO. Greenland, a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, is part of the NATO alliance through Denmark, but has become a flashpoint after Trump made aggressive moves suggesting the United States should gain control of the strategically important Arctic territory.
In recent weeks, Trump threatened to impose sweeping 25 percent tariffs on European Union goods unless Denmark agreed to hand Greenland over to the United States. Earlier this month, he told The New York Times that Washington might have to choose between annexing Greenland and keeping NATO intact, raising alarm across European capitals.
Trump later softened his position, backing away from the tariff threat and claiming the United States could “do exactly what we want to do” in Greenland under a new arrangement with NATO that would grant Washington permanent and unrestricted access to the territory. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One after the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump said negotiations were underway on a deal that would be “much more generous to the United States.”
The precise terms of any agreement remain unclear, and Denmark has insisted that its sovereignty over Greenland is not negotiable. Asked directly about sovereignty, Trump avoided a clear answer but reiterated that the United States must retain “the ability to do exactly what we want to do.”
Greenland’s Prime Minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, welcomed Trump’s retreat from tariffs but said he had not been informed of the details of any proposed deal. “I don’t know what there is in the agreement about my country,” he said in Nuuk. While expressing openness to deeper cooperation with the United States, Nielsen stressed that Greenland’s territorial integrity was a red line. “We have to respect international law and sovereignty,” he said.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week praised the EU for “being firm” in its response to Washington, noting that Trump’s tariff threats eased amid warnings of retaliatory measures, often described by EU officials as a potential “trade bazooka.”
The Greenland dispute has intensified broader concerns in Europe about the reliability of the United States as a security partner. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said relations with Washington had “taken a big blow” in recent weeks. In a striking signal of deteriorating trust, Denmark’s intelligence services classified the United States as a security threat in December for the first time in the country’s history.
In a mid-December assessment, the Danish Defence Intelligence Service warned that Washington is increasingly prioritizing its own interests and using economic and technological leverage as tools of power against both rivals and allies. In a thinly veiled reference to Greenland, the agency said the United States was prepared to use tariff threats and no longer ruled out the use of military force, even in disputes involving allies.
Against this backdrop, Rutte’s intervention underscored a central dilemma facing Europe. While calls for greater strategic autonomy have grown louder, NATO’s chief made clear that, for now, European security remains fundamentally dependent on American military power, even as political trust across the Atlantic shows visible signs of strain.
