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France and Germany scurry to resist Trump’s Greenland threats

PARIS — Paris is working with European allies on a joint response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to take over Greenland, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said Wednesday.

“Regardless of the form of intimidation and its source, we have begun work at the Quai d’Orsay to prepare ourselves to respond and not to respond alone,” Barrot told French radio France Inter.

“Once this work has been completed in the coming days, [we’ll] be able to share it. Whatever form intimidation takes, we want to take action with our European partners,” Barrot said, adding that he will discuss the topic later Wednesday during a meeting with his German and Polish counterparts.

In recent days, Trump has reiterated his claims to Greenland — a self-ruling Danish territory — following a separate U.S. operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro last weekend. On Tuesday, eight of Europe’s top leaders insisted Greenland’s security must be ensured collectively by NATO and with full respect to the wishes of its people.

Officials in Berlin said discussions on how to practically safeguard Greenland’s sovereignty were ongoing on Wednesday following talks on the topic between European leaders and Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in Paris the day before.

Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul is working on a plan with his counterparts that could include European deterrence in the event the U.S. would try to attack or seize Greenland, as well as increased NATO presence in Greenland’s direct vicinity, a German government spokesperson said. Last year, Barrot didn’t rule out sending French troops to the island but it never materialized.

The French minister tried to downplay the risks of American military aggression against Greenland, saying that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio assured him during a phone call earlier this week that it wasn’t Washington’s preferred way forward.

However, the White House said late Tuesday it was still considering “a range of options” including the use of military force.

Nette Nöstlinger reported from Berlin. Carlotta Diederich contributed to this report from Berlin.

LP Staff Writers

Writers at Lord’s Press come from a range of professional backgrounds, including history, diplomacy, heraldry, and public administration. Many publish anonymously or under initials—a practice that reflects the publication’s long-standing emphasis on discretion and editorial objectivity. While they bring expertise in European nobility, protocol, and archival research, their role is not to opine, but to document. Their focus remains on accuracy, historical integrity, and the preservation of events and individuals whose significance might otherwise go unrecorded.

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