Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said Tuesday that an agreement on sharing responsibility for security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic could help defuse rising tensions between the United States and Europe over Greenland.
“The best outcome would be to agree on common responsibility for the security of the Arctic region and the North Atlantic region,” Nausėda said in an interview with Reuters. “We should do our best to go this way, because this is the best way.”
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he wants to take control of Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, straining NATO unity and prompting European countries to push back against Washington’s ambitions in the Arctic.
This week, Trump announced a 10% tariff on imports from eight European countries that sent troops to Greenland for a military exercise beginning in February. He said the tariffs would rise to 25% in June and remain in place until “a deal is reached for the complete and total purchase of Greenland”.
European Union leaders are set to hold an emergency summit in Brussels on Thursday evening to discuss their response to what officials describe as one of the most serious crises in transatlantic relations in recent years.
Nausėda said there was still room to de-escalate the standoff, but that both sides needed to be willing to do so.
“The precondition is that both sides want this de-escalation,” he said. “Europe is obviously willing to de-escalate. I hope that the United States will be too.”
Trump is scheduled to speak at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday. Nausėda said he hoped the US president would use the appearance to send signals aimed at easing tensions over Greenland.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
