Expert comment - Trump Greenland position 'pressures NATO'
20 January 2026
Dr Joseph O'Mahoney, associate professor of international relations at the University of Reading, said:
"This attempt to 'acquire' Greenland by US President Donald Trump is a significant break from the standard ways of behaving in the modern international system.
"In the nineteenth century, powerful states used military and economic coercion to acquire colonial territories. More recently, since the creation of the United Nations, almost no territory has formally changed hands. And when it has, it has almost always been through a multilateral process.
"The US has numerous military bases and extensive privileges in countries around the world, including in Greenland. It seems likely that whatever the US would want to do in Greenland, Denmark and Greenland would be willing to accommodate that. What makes this annexation attempt particularly important is that Trump is openly seeking "ownership" of the territory and incorporation into the United States. This is a violation of norms that is similar to what Russia has tried to do in eastern Ukraine.
"Also, that this annexation attempt is being made against core US treaty allies further puts pressure on NATO and the transatlantic alliance."
Dr Derek Bolton, lecturer in international relations at the University of Reading, said:
"In Trump's own words, he has 'done more for NATO than any other person since its founding'. He has fundamentally and irreversibly altered the transatlantic relationship upon which the alliance was built.
"While relations will continue in some form, it has become ever clearer that within Trump's foreign policy, Europe is no longer a global partner, but merely another actor.
"Trump already made clear his disdain for much of Europe and the EU within his national security strategy. We are now seeing that come to fruition within his posturing on Greenland."
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