Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen tells a memorable anecdote about attending the top-level summits that bring together all 27 EU leaders.
The Danish prime minister had to move the date of her wedding, not once but twice, to accommodate meetings of the European Council in the summer of 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The no-nonsense politician tied the knot with her husband, a Danish film director, several days earlier than planned that July. Then she departed for a marathon four-day summit to negotiate a major pandemic recovery fund.
Not exactly the traditional honeymoon.
Frederiksen is back in Brussels again on Thursday for an emergency EU summit where just a day before it seems the stakes for Denmark, its semi-autonomous territory Greenland, and Europe, couldn’t be higher.
The fact Denmark has always been one of the United States’ closest allies had not tempered Donald Trump’s desire to take over Greenland, by economic coercion if necessary.
Then suddenly, after talks in Davos, Trump seemed to back down from his threats of coming tariffs on Denmark and other European countries, at least for now.
There was a sense heading into Davos that what happened in the coming days and weeks could well define the transatlantic relationship for the remaining three years of the Trump administration, and perhaps beyond.
European leaders will compare notes from their individual attempts to get a read on Trump’s intentions.
Is he truly fixated on acquiring the huge northern land mass at any cost? Would Trump go for a deal where Europe promised to increase its military commitments to secure the Arctic region, and bankroll an expanded network of US military bases on the ice-covered island?
Maybe you throw in something about joint mineral exploration ventures as well.
The EU’s 27 leaders will spend some time over dinner talking about placating Trump, without compromising Denmark and Greenland’s sovereignty.
Trump’s ambitions may be an exercise in the flexing of US power for power’s sake.
“No nation or group of nations is in any position to be able to secure Greenland other than the United States, we’re a great power,” Trump told attendees at Davos on Wednesday.
Denmark, and Europe, were ungrateful. “Without us you’d all be speaking German and a little Japanese perhaps,” he said.
Earlier in the day there was a moment of relief when Trump appeared to rule out using military force. Later on in the evening the US president then seemed to walk back the worst of his threats about using economic coercion to get what he wants.
The US president had said he would charge tariffs of 10 per cent, then 25 per cent, on trade coming from Denmark and several other European countries, unless Greenland is sold, like a piece of New York real estate.
Given practical customs difficulties, it is likely any US tariffs would have to apply to the whole EU market.
[ Social media memes soar after Emmanuel Macron’s Top Gun look at DavosOpens in new window ]
The EU has a package of counter-tariffs drawn up to hit €93 billion-worth of US trade, held over from the time the two sides came to blows last summer. Back then Brussels judged that a trade war should be avoided at nearly all cost.
The governments of Ireland, Germany and Italy were particularly wary of direct confrontation, fearing their exposure in a transatlantic rift.
It seems there was an appetite for a firmer response this time. Still, you need a very high threshold of political pain to hold your nerve in a trade war.
Emergency anti-coercion powers would allow the EU to put limits on US multinational companies’ operations in the European market. Going for that nuclear option would – policymakers hope – put huge pressure on the financial markets, Congress and industry to restrain Trump.
For now, Trump seems to have walked back from his threats to hit European allies with tariffs, instead talking about his satisfaction with a plan for a “framework” deal on Greenland.
Europeans leaders probably feel they are not out of the woods on this one yet.