Trump airs doubts on NATO's value as Greenland tensions rise

Courtney Subramanian, Jamie Tarabay and Roxana Tiron, Bloomberg News on Jan 7, 2026

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U.S. President Donald Trump leveled fresh criticism toward NATO, days after Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said his desired takeover of her nation’s territory of Greenland would mean the end of the military alliance.

“RUSSIA AND CHINA HAVE ZERO FEAR OF NATO WITHOUT THE UNITED STATES, AND I DOUBT NATO WOULD BE THERE FOR US IF WE REALLY NEEDED THEM,” Trump posted Wednesday on social media, also criticizing allies for their defense-spending levels.

The first and only time the alliance invoked its mutual-defense mechanism, known as Article 5, was after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the U.S.

Trump has displayed increasing bellicosity over the past week, most notably with his brazen military incursion into Venezuela, sparking fresh concerns in Europe about his ambition of taking Greenland. His aggressive stance toward the Arctic territory has also prompted pushback from fellow Republicans, who warned against the geopolitical consequences of a hostile takeover of Greenland.

Senator Mitch McConnell, the former Republican leader who has frequently sparred with Trump over foreign policy, called U.S. officials’ threats of a Greenland takeover “as unseemly as they are counterproductive.”

“We need to not threaten a peaceful nation that’s an ally where we have a military base already,” Republican James Lankford, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a supporter of the NATO alliance, told reporters Wednesday.

Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said she found any discussions of acquiring Greenland by purchase or by force “very, very unsettling and certainly concerning.”

Trump also targeted Norway, a NATO member, because he was not awarded the Nobel Peace Prize — a decision he described as “foolish.” The prize is administered by a Norwegian committee. Despite his concerns, Trump said he remained committed to the alliance.

“We will always be there for NATO, even if they won’t be there for us,” Trump said.

Trump did not directly mention Greenland in his post, but his remarks come a day after the White House refused to rule out the use of military force to acquire the island. The U.S. military raid to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro fueled worries that Trump is becoming more unrestrained in his willingness to use military force to achieve his goals.

“If the United States chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops,” Frederiksen told Danish broadcaster TV2 on Monday. “That is, including our NATO and thus the security that has been provided since the end of the Second World War.”

Trump is considering many ways to take control of the Arctic island, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

“President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States, and it’s vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region,” Leavitt said. “The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the U.S. military is always an option at the commander in chief’s disposal.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio downplayed the notion of military action in a briefing with lawmakers on Monday, instead signaling that an invasion was not imminent and that the goal was to buy the island from Denmark, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Rubio, after another briefing with lawmakers on Wednesday, stressed that Trump’s desire to buy Greenland dates back to his first term. He said he plans to meet with Danish officials next week.

“We’ll have those conversations with them then,” he told reporters.

Senator Roger Wicker, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said he’d support “if Greenland decided they wanted to become part of the United States and if Denmark said ‘we understand the reason why you want it.’”

But the Mississippi Republican stressed that congressional Republicans “are not looking at doing a military operation.”

Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota, an Armed Services panel member, likewise suggested Denmark could “make a deal” with the U.S., but he drew the line at a forceful annexation.

In an effort to resolve the issue, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said the governments of Denmark and Greenland requested the meeting with Rubio. Greenland’s foreign minister, Vivian Motzfeldt, said in a Facebook post that the aim of the talks would be “to discuss the United States’ strong statements regarding Greenland.”

European leaders also issued a joint statement, warning that Trump needs to respect the territorial integrity of Greenland and Denmark. The leaders stressed that Greenland falls under NATO’s collective defense umbrella as part of the Kingdom of Denmark and that security in the Arctic must be achieved collectively with NATO allies.

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