BRUSSELS — Sometimes it is the answers politicians decline to give that are the most revealing — like whether it’s still possible, after clashing bitterly over the fate of Greenland, for a European leader to trust Donald Trump. 

“I don’t do that kind of judgment,” Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said in an interview with POLITICO, when asked directly if he can trust the U.S. president. “The discussion we had on Greenland and Denmark was a bad one.”

But European leaders, he believes, took the decision to “stand up” for their values and for European integrity in the face of Trump’s aggression — and it worked. “We protected European interests, Danish interests, broader European interests as well. And we did that very clearly.”

What Kristersson’s comments lay bare is the lasting damage done to relations between many European governments and the U.S. after Trump’s demands to take “ownership” of the island away from Sweden’s neighbor Denmark.

“For very obvious reasons, trust took a hit, no doubt,” Kristersson said this week, shortly before traveling to the Munich Security Conference. “I’m not at all saying that it is unreparable, and I don’t think it is either, but of course the tone the Americans used against Europeans, Canadians, Denmark, is not building trust.”

It is clear that the conflict between the U.S. and European countries reached its sharpest point in the early weeks of 2026 over the fate of the frozen territory of 57,000 inhabitants in the high north. But tensions had been building ever since Trump re-entered the White House a year earlier, and the underlying cause runs far deeper than the Arctic ice. 

Tariffs and turmoil

Everything about Trump’s political outlook runs counter to the conventional way European centrists have run their countries for decades. His aggressive push to reorder international trade arrangements to America’s advantage, with an accompanying blizzard of tariffs, and his assertive efforts to force Ukraine into a peace deal (while talking up future agreements with Russia) reinforced the view that America’s leadership is no longer a reliable ally for Europe. 

Then, in December, came the White House National Security Strategy. This document distilled Washington’s highly critical new approach toward conventional transatlantic relations, in black and white. The paper set out a sweeping plan for the U.S. government to step in and support MAGA-aligned “patriotic” parties to tilt the direction of European politics and save the continent from migration that threatens “civilizational erasure.” 

Senior figures in the U.S. administration have also intervened on politics in Germany, France, the U.K. and other countries over the past year.

Trump then doubled down on the sentiment in a landmark interview with POLITICO, in which he dismissed European leaders as “weak” — and singled out Sweden as a country that is no longer safe due to an influx of immigrants. 

Kristersson, the center-right Moderate Party leader, is competing in the next elections in September against, among others, Jimmie Åkesson’s Sweden Democrats — the sort of nationalist populists the Trump administration wants to promote and support.

“We haven’t seen anything of that in Sweden, but of course I would certainly not welcome any kind of interventions,” Kristersson said. While everyone is entitled to a view in a democracy, he emphasized that he does not believe it is appropriate for leaders of any persuasion to get involved in elections in other countries. 

“In Sweden, we have a tradition of avoiding interference, or having a view on other countries’ domestic elections,” he said. “We respect the fact that every country, every electorate, in every democracy — it’s their vote.” 

The Russia problem

Kristersson said he held a meeting with all eight other party leaders in Sweden a few days ago to discuss the risk of “illegitimate foreign interference in the Swedish election campaign.” He drew a distinction between “legal” commentary from abroad, and “illegal” Russian-influenced attempts to disrupt the vote, as has been seen in countries such as Moldova recently. 

“We have agencies trying to detect [these activities], and we will be extremely vocal and open, and attribute [to] countries that try to do things like that,” he said. 

Kristersson said NATO remained the critical foundation for all European security. As the alliance’s newest member, Sweden had no regrets despite Trump sounding less than wholeheartedly committed to the decadeslong principle of mutual self-defense. 

The EU, he said, should explore what it can do to reinforce NATO but must not get in its way. He dismissed proposals from the European Commission for a standing EU army of 100,000 troops and a European Security Council of countries including the U.K. and Norway. 

“I quite often hear voices, people air ideas of the European Union, to some extent, competing with NATO on security. That’s a bad idea,” he said. “The best way of keeping an American commitment to European NATO is also to build a stronger European pillar of NATO.” 

That doesn’t mean Europe should not change in response to Trump’s hostility. He wants the EU “to use this crisis to correct things we haven’t got right,” including taking more responsibility for its own defense.

European countries must also make themselves more competitive, slashing red tape so businesses can take on and beat rivals in the U.S. and China, he said.

And EU leaders must not forget Ukraine — which needs more weapons and money, right now. Kristersson wants Ukraine to join the bloc and is frustrated that Hungary remains a major holdout against Ukrainian accession. 

While Trump’s efforts to press for a peace deal are welcome, there is, Kristersson says, “a big but” — Russian leader Vladimir Putin.  

“We see no signs whatsoever, so far, of Russian willingness to comply with what could become acceptable terms.” That makes all talk of security guarantees “slightly theoretical.” That makes it even more essential for allies to send Kyiv military equipment while the fighting continues. 

“More countries should to do more now to give Ukraine the best possible seat whenever these peace talks really take place,” he said. “But I am truly skeptical of the Russian willingness to do the things that are necessary to be able to reach a fair peace.”