‘You cannot annex another country’: Danish PM makes direct appeal to US after Rubio meeting
By Rob Harris
Brussels: America’s top diplomat, Marco Rubio, has attempted to reassure North Atlantic allies that the United States remains fully committed to the military alliance, despite persistent anti-Europe rhetoric from the Trump administration.
Speaking to reporters at NATO headquarters before a crucial foreign ministers’ meeting that will discuss defence spending and the war in Ukraine, Rubio said fears of a potential US withdrawal or scaling back from NATO were “unwarranted”, calling out what he described as “hysteria and hyperbole” surrounding the future of the alliance.
From left: NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy get ready for a press photo in Brussels.Credit: Getty Images
The US Secretary of State also met Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen on the sidelines of the summit amid rising tensions over Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory that US President Donald Trump has said he wants to acquire. It was the first direct contact between Washington and Copenhagen in weeks, and Rasmussen said Rubio had acknowledged Greenland’s right to self-determination.
But at a media event in Greenland shortly after that meeting, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen switched to speaking in English to make a direct appeal to the US.
“I would like to take this opportunity to send a message directly to the United States of America,” she said onboard a Danish navy vessel, with snowy cliffs in the background. “This is not only about Greenland or Denmark. This is about the world order that we have built together across the Atlantic over generations. You cannot annex another country, not even with an argument about security.”
She called on the US to work with Denmark and Greenland to protect the Arctic region instead.
Tensions between the US and its European NATO allies have been mounting on several fronts, but Trump’s longstanding fascination with Greenland has proved one of the most contentious. His recent remarks about acquiring the territory from Denmark – “one way or another” – have left European diplomats scrambling to maintain diplomatic decorum.
But Rubio will discuss other pointed issues with his NATO counterparts in Brussels as well this week, including defence spending, the war in Ukraine and relations with Russia – just as Trump raises the stakes in his trade war with the Continent.
“The United States is as active in NATO as it has ever been,” Rubio said before the foreign ministers’ meeting. “President Trump has made clear he supports NATO. We’re going to remain in NATO,” he added, highlighting Trump’s public backing of the alliance despite his controversial remarks over the years.
Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance have frequently criticised European countries for what they have described as “freeloading” off American military support, and in early March, Trump bluntly told reporters, “If they don’t pay, I’m not going to defend them”. On Thursday, announcing 20 per cent tariffs against the European Union, he said: “They rip us off. It’s so sad to see. It’s so pathetic.”
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth also warned last month that US security priorities lie in Asia and on its own borders. For 75 years, NATO has been anchored on American leadership, but the rhetoric has stoked fears among NATO members that Washington could pivot away from Europe when leaders meet for a June summit in the Netherlands.
A US-NATO training exercise at the US Army’s Hohenfels training area in Germany last monthCredit: Bloomberg
Rubio, widely considered the most pro-alliance member of Trump’s national security team, framed NATO as a “strengthening” alliance and stressed that the US expected all members to meet ambitious defence spending goals. Out of the 32 allies, 23 have met the current target set at 2 per cent of gross domestic product, up from just six countries in 2021.
He made it clear that was no longer enough, pushing members to commit to a new defence spending target of 5 per cent of GDP, a figure some experts argue could require a nearly $US1 trillion ($1.58 trillion) increase in the US defence budget alone.
“We need to ensure NATO is capable and strong,” Rubio said. “The only way NATO can get stronger and more viable is if our partners, the nation states that comprise this important alliance, have more capability.”
But he also acknowledged the practical difficulties of achieving such a large increase in defence spending, especially for European countries facing competing social and economic demands.
US President Donald Trump has criticised NATO for years.Credit: AP
He said NATO’s primary focus should be on addressing emerging global security threats, particularly the rise of China and Russia’s continued destabilising influence across Europe and the Indo-Pacific.
“The security threats we face are interconnected,” Rubio said. “We have to look at these theatres in conjunction.”
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte also sought to reassure the alliance’s members, stressing that there was “no plan” for the US to drastically reduce its military presence in Europe.
While the US has been pivoting its focus to Asia, especially in relation to the rise of China, Rutte emphasised the global security threats facing the alliance were increasingly interconnected and that the Russian threat would persist for many years.
“We are seeing what China is doing,” he said. “We’re seeing how these two theatres, the inner Pacific and the Euro-Atlantic, are getting more and more connected by the fact that the Russians are working together with the North Koreans, with the Chinese, with Iran.” Rutte also reaffirmed that the Trump administration had signalled no intention it planned to scale back US forces in Europe.
There are now about 100,000 American troops stationed across Europe, and some reports have speculated this number could eventually decrease by 20,000 to 50,000 in coming years.
Rutte, a strong supporter of Ukraine, has taken care to avoid antagonising Trump, commending him for “breaking the deadlock” with Russia and raising security issues within the Arctic.
In Washington, the Associated Press reported that the chairman of the US Senate armed services committee criticised unnamed “mid-level” leadership at the Defence Department for what he branded as a misguided plan to “reduce drastically” the number of US troops in Europe. The department hasn’t made public any such proposal.
Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.