Trump’s Greenland Gambit Alienates the European Right He Once Inspired

By John Gustavsson

Friday, January 23, 2026

 

Donald Trump’s efforts to annex Greenland not only met fierce opposition from the expected corners of Europe; they’ve also led to condemnation from otherwise Trump-friendly parties and politicians on the continent.

 

The European right’s reactions to Trump’s Greenland push — which in the past couple of days has de-escalated, as the president announced the framework for a future deal whose contours remain unclear — have ranged from measured criticism to outright fury. Alice Weidel, co-chairman of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), compared Trump’s actions to those of Vladimir Putin. Jordan Bardella, leader of France’s National Rally, accused Trump of an attempted “vassalization” of Europe. Nigel Farage, perhaps Trump’s closest ally in Europe, endorsed Greenland’s right to self-determination and condemned the initial threat of tariffs as a “hostile act.” Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni was likewise critical.

 

None, however, have been as outraged as right-wing Scandinavians. Anders Vistisen, member of the European Parliament and of the national conservative Danish People’s Party, gave a heated speech during a recent European Parliament debate in which he told Trump to “f*** off.” His colleague Charlie Weimers of the Sweden Democrats said Trump’s Greenland antics had “crossed a line,” a sentiment also echoed by Sylvi Listhaug, leader of the Norwegian Progress Party. The Finns Party, meanwhile, has supported the Finnish government’s decision to send troops to Greenland.

 

Trump appeared taken aback by the resistance during his speech in Davos, sounding incredulous as he referred to Greenland as “a piece of ice,” implying that it ought to be no big deal for Europeans if he takes it. Why, then, is Greenland a red line, even for Europe’s national conservatives?

 

First, many on the American right struggle to understand that conservatives in other countries, too, are patriots who feel just as strongly about their countries as Americans feel about the U.S. Just as Americans would be insulted if a foreign power attempted to buy American Samoa, Europeans feel disrespected by the very insinuation that any piece of their countries could ever be for sale.

 

Next, while the policies of European conservative and nationalist parties are often compared to Trump’s, there are important differences: Almost all these parties were around long before Trump rode down the escalator in Trump Tower in 2015, and they are far more ideologically grounded than Trump and his movement have ever been. To national conservatives in Europe, self-determination is not merely a slogan, but a core belief that influences their policy preferences on everything from immigration and Ukraine to, especially, matters related to the European Union. Had Greenlanders themselves wished to join America, no one on the European right would have objected to it.

 

Which brings us to arguably the worst mistake Trump made over the course of his recent Arctic adventure: He appealed to Copenhagen rather than to Nuuk. For almost half a century, Greenland has been gradually granted more self-government, and Denmark has made it clear that Greenland may choose full independence whenever it wants to. This position was codified in the 2009 Act on Greenland Self-Government, which also prevents Denmark from selling the island. The idea that Denmark is hell-bent on retaining Greenland for its own sake is simply not true. Greenland is a serious fiscal drain on Denmark, with subsidies to the island totaling over $1 billion annually — a large amount coming from a country of just 6 million. Greenland has long had a pro-independence majority in its regional parliament, but independence has been pushed back repeatedly over questions on whether and how Greenland could replace this income. Ironically, part of the reason behind Greenland’s economic malaise is that the island’s Europe-oriented economy has been dragged down by European economic stagnation combined with EU environmental regulations. There was room for the United States to step in and make an irresistible offer. Alas, Trump decided to treat Greenland as a colony rather than as a territory with a right to self-determination. To conservatives in Europe, a continent with a long, not-too-distant history of deadly border disputes, this was a bridge too far.

 

There are, of course, also political considerations. The old Never Trump adage that “everything Trump touches dies” has proven frighteningly true for his international allies. During Trump’s first term, a wave of anti-Americanism spurred by Trump’s “build the wall and make Mexico pay for it” rhetoric wrecked Mexico’s traditional pro-American Partido Acción Nacional and led to the election of socialist Andrés Manuel López Obrador as president in 2018. Then, less than a year ago, Trump-friendly Canadian conservative Pierre Poilievre, whose party had been leading in the polls for years, snatched defeat from the jaws of victory once Trump began to talk up the prospect of annexing Canada, which ended up saving Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party.

 

It should come as no surprise that national conservatives and right-wing populists in Europe worry about meeting the same fate. While Trump was never popular in Europe, his net favorability has reached lows not seen since the pandemic. This unpopularity now extends to right-wing populist voters: In France and Germany, only a third of National Rally and Alternative for Germany supporters hold a favorable view of Trump. Even among Farage’s voters in the U.K., just half view Trump favorably. Worse, dislike of Trump now appears to be influencing Europeans’ views of the U.S. to a greater extent than it had done during his first term, suggesting that Europeans (and others) are beginning to no longer distinguish between Trump and the country he leads.

 

Making matters worse for the European right, Trump has now handed an opportunity to European mainstream parties to retake momentum and frame themselves as patriots defending the continent against imperialist Yankees. His supporters in Europe, who pride themselves on their nationalism, are discovering to their horror that they can now be portrayed as American collaborators, patsies working for a hostile foreign power. For those who may now regret their previous closeness to Trump, strongly condemning his attempted Arctic land grab makes perfect sense.

 

Even so, there is genuine anger on the right. Trump’s and his supporters’ rhetoric against Europe has hardened in his second term. During his first term, many things he said could be written off as “tough love” with messages that many European conservatives agreed with (for example, on German dependency on Russian gas), but this is no longer the case. Now, Trump supporters portray Europeans as lazy freeloaders and derisively refer to them as “Europoors” while the U.S. government introduces arbitrary tariffs and plays dangerous games with support for Ukraine, all of which demonstrate a pure disdain for Europe that goes beyond mere political disagreement.

 

Even without the rhetoric, however, maintaining the transatlantic alliance was always going to be difficult. A key component of Trump’s worldview is the belief that Europe, and other countries, are exploiting America in trade, a view that is hardly shared by Europeans, regardless of political ideology, who instead view America as having the upper hand in international trade. Protectionists and revanchists naturally struggle to cooperate internationally as their respective narratives (e.g.: Who is the aggrieved party?) differ and the success of one must come at the expense of the others. Among many on the European right, there is now a palpable feeling of betrayal following the belated realization that the man whom they have spent years defending does not in fact care about them. Rather, Trump views not just their leaders but their very nations with disdain. For someone who, even before Trump was first elected president, warned European right-wingers about the dangers of embracing him, these past few weeks have been a bittersweet vindication.

 

For all the talk of making Europe pay its fair share, Trump has exacted a very different price: the goodwill of the very nationalists and conservatives who until recently saw him as an ally. The man who promised to drain the swamp has managed instead to drain his transatlantic support pool. National conservatives across Europe are realizing that “America first” leaves little room for the wishes, aspirations, and sometimes even the sovereignty of their own nations. Trump is well on his way to leaving America with fewer allies than at any point in living memory. Whether he cares or not, America will surely come to regret this self-inflicted wound.