{"id":197876,"date":"2026-01-23T17:41:50","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T17:41:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/the-damage-has-been-done-as-trump-claims-victory-on-greenland-europe-loses-trust-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T17:41:50","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T17:41:50","slug":"the-damage-has-been-done-as-trump-claims-victory-on-greenland-europe-loses-trust-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/the-damage-has-been-done-as-trump-claims-victory-on-greenland-europe-loses-trust-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"'The damage has been done': As Trump claims victory on Greenland, Europe loses trust – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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DAVOS, Switzerland \u2014 President Donald Trump flew home from an international conference here Thursday with a parting message<\/a>: \u201cIt was an incredible time in Davos.\u201d
For him, perhaps. For many of the country’s European allies, it was a sign of global “rupture”<\/a> that could reverberate for years.
Trump has appeared to back off his maximalist demand that the U.S. take ownership of Greenland<\/a>, moving instead toward a deal that would allow the U.S. to place more troops, bases and military hardware on the island, a territory of Denmark<\/a>.
In an interview with Fox Business, he said, \u201cWe\u2019re getting everything we wanted \u2014 total security, total access to everything.\u201d
Yet all of that was available to Trump from the start, without the drama that sent the NATO alliance barreling toward an internal crisis, a Danish official told NBC News on Thursday.
The only nonnegotiable point for Denmark was that Greenland shouldn\u2019t be absorbed by the U.S., the person added.
“We can discuss increased military presence and more troops. You name it, basically, you can have it” under existing treaties, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Trump\u2019s reassurance that America\u2019s military won\u2019t seize Greenland at gunpoint settled the financial markets, as did his pledge to forgo tariffs on Europe as a prod to relinquish Greenland.
But his Greenland gambit clawed away some of the trust that underpins a successful alliance, said diplomats, government officials and foreign policy experts.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, told NBC News, \u201cAs an American, as an Alaskan, I was concerned that in this global forum the relationships that have been built up with so many, perhaps, were fractured.\u201d
Trump\u2019s announcement at Davos that he won\u2019t use force helped ease tensions, though some foreign policy experts and officials said his bid to swallow up Greenland sowed distrust in European capitals that won\u2019t soon dissipate.
\u201cThe damage has already been done,\u201d said Aurel Sari, a professor of international law at the University of Exeter in England. \u201cNATO is based on shared values and trust. What is becoming very clear to European leaders, and to Canada, as well, is that those values are not shared anymore. And the trust is simply not there.\u201d
Coming out of World War II, the U.S. reshaped the international landscape, creating a web of institutions meant to resolve conflicts peacefully and apply rules fairly.
As a superpower protective of its own interests, the U.S. has breached international norms at various times. Yet the structure that evolved over the past 80 years averted a third world war while creating broad prosperity in the West.
Now, democratic leaders warn that America is destabilizing the very order it birthed.
Before Trump touched down in Davos, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney warned in a speech that geopolitical relations are undergoing a \u201crupture.\u201d
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz echoed Carney\u2019s point in his own speech in Davos<\/a> on Thursday. He warned that the \u201cinternational order of the past three decades \u2014 anchored in international law \u2014 has always been imperfect. Today, its very foundations have been shaken.\u201d
\u201cThe new world of great powers is being built on power, on strength and, when it comes to it, on force,\u201d Merz said. \u201cIt\u2019s not a cozy place.\u201d
Before the conference, Trump was coy about how far he would go to acquire Greenland. Asked whether he would use force, he told NBC News in an interview Monday, \u201cNo comment<\/a>.\u201d
He said at a news conference Tuesday at the White House \u201cyou\u2019ll find out\u201d when he was asked about the extent to which he\u2019d push.
He trolled European leaders with a social media post that showed him planting an American flag on Greenland territory, near a sign that read, \u201cGreenland, US Territory, Est. 2026.\u201d
If it was a joke, Europeans don\u2019t like the punch line.
About 10,000 Danes took part in a demonstration<\/a> in Copenhagen, their nation’s capital, this week, protesting Trump\u2019s attempt to annex Greenland. People in the crowd wore hats that read, \u201cMake America Go Away,\u201d a play on Trump\u2019s campaign slogan.
A puzzling subplot in the Greenland saga was Trump\u2019s climbdown. In his speech Wednesday, he insisted that the U.S. needs ownership of Greenland<\/a>. Trump, a onetime real estate developer, said a \u201clease\u201d wouldn\u2019t suffice. He issued an ominous warning to America\u2019s European allies.
\u201cYou can say yes, and we will be very appreciative, or you can say no, and we will remember,\u201d he said.
Within a few hours, he instead sounded ready to compromise. He posted on social media<\/a> about a meeting he\u2019d had with NATO\u2019s secretary general and said he\u2019d agreed to the \u201cframework of a future deal\u201d on Greenland. Gone was the notion of owning it outright.
Still, the damage is lasting, said <\/strong>Kristine Berzina, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a think tank.
\u201cBy attacking the sovereignty of a NATO ally, he has rattled the markets and shaken the confidence of allies,” Berzina said. “He had to backpedal from his ill-advised wording that he wanted to own a different country\u2019s territory. Now he has to be on cleanup duty to wind up in the same place.\u201d
Watching from a distance is Russian President Vladimir Putin. One of Putin\u2019s strategic goals is to disrupt the NATO alliance, which has been a bulwark against Russian territorial ambitions in the West.
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a member of the Foreign Relations Committee who attended the Davos conference, told NBC News: \u201cPutin is celebrating this misguided effort to extract meaningless concessions that were more about Trump\u2019s needs for an abstract win than American national interests.\u201d
Peter Nicholas is a senior White House reporter for NBC News.
Peter Alexander is chief White House correspondent for NBC News.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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