Trump Wants Greenland—3 Ways the EU Will Strike Back

 

Greenland: The European Union’s Three Bazookas of Deterrence

The BBC is already reporting that there is talk of the US using military force to take Greenland. But despite everyone thinking the EU is powerless, it has three bazookas in its arsenal that it can launch against the United States that would hit geopolitics and explode into a cloudlike nuclear bomb. With the success of President Trump's "Operation Absolute Resolve" in Venezuela and his statements about taking Greenland, EU officials are feeling seriously threatened. If the US moves forward with seizing Greenland, that action could end the post-Cold War transatlantic relationship and force the EU onto the world stage as a formidable power.

Bazooka Number One: The End of NATO (Article 42.7)

Everyone talks about NATO's Article 5, the "attack one, attack all" clause, but the EU has a mirror mutual defense clause: Article 42.7 of the Lisbon Treaty. It mandates that if any EU member is the victim of armed aggression, the others must aid and assist by all means in their power. Talk was already on the table regarding which clause would be enacted following Rearm Europe's ambitious plans for an EU-wide army and defense infrastructure. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has issued a declaration: if the US attacks Greenland—part of the Danish Kingdom—it would effectively end NATO and the post-WWII security order.


Option Two: The Trade Bazooka (ACI)

This isn't about tariffs on motorcycles or bourbon; it's a total lockout. The weapon is called the Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI), frequently referred to as the "trade bazooka" because its scope is far broader than traditional trade defense tools. Under the ACI, Brussels can:

  • Freeze US banks out of the European market.

  • Cancel patent protections for American tech firms.

  • Shut US companies out of trillions in government contracts. Under the Critical Raw Materials Act, the EU has designated Greenland’s mining operations as strategic projects. If the US moves to seize these minerals, the EU will weaponize the ACI to dismantle the American service economy. This is decoupling at its most aggressive.

Option Three: The Financial Nuclear Option (The Digital Euro)

Finally, the financial nuclear option: breaking the dollar's grip. Building on the 2018 mandate to stop using the US dollar for oil trade, the conversation has shifted to a pro-Euro model and the acceleration of the Digital Euro. This system is designed to be entirely immune to US sanctions. Unlike the current SWIFT system, a Digital Euro runs on a proprietary European blockchain ledger—a "closed loop" that allows European firms to settle trade directly with partners without the transaction ever touching a US intermediary bank. It is quite literally a trade system immune to the long arm of US law.

Trump is redrawing the map in the Americas, but Europe has panic levers so powerful they could redraw the map of global power in response. The real question is: what happens to the world order if the EU actually fires one or all of these bazookas?