00:00Donald Trump wants Greenland. No, he really wants Greenland. Europe's leaders are threatening to
00:06start a fight with Trump over Greenland, but they wouldn't win. Eight European NATO members
00:11recently sent a handful of troops to this remote, ice-covered island to show a presence that somehow
00:17would persuade Trump to reconsider his plans to take over. But it backfired. Now Trump is
00:23threatening to hit some of America's closest allies with punitive tariffs, unless they give
00:28him what he wants. Not surprisingly, a lot of Europe thinks it's now time to put its foot down and call
00:33out their US ally for what it has become, which is an abusive partner. They're right on almost every
00:39count. Trump's hostile bid for Greenland stamps on core principles of international law. The credibility
00:45of NATO's Article 5 collective defense clause now hangs by a thread. But these are not the things
00:50that decide international affairs in our new might-makes-right world. Power does. The EU just
00:57might be able to stare Trump down over trade, forcing enough economic pain for him to start
01:02worrying more about his own political future than Europe's. But it remains all too dependent on the
01:07US for security. And the ugly truth is that he has the leverage that comes with power, and Europe
01:13doesn't. Nor is it clear that they'll be able to remain unified. France may be willing to enter an
01:18all-out trade war with the US, but Italy, which is far more exposed economically, also sounds a lot less
01:24enthusiastic. Likewise for Poland and the Baltic states, although this time it's because of their
01:29exposure to Russia in the event of a US security withdrawal. Europe really needs to think this
01:34through all the way to the end. It should consider the advice of the great Chinese military strategist
01:40Sun Tzu. Never pick a fight that you can't win.
Comments