Europe’s far-right parties, often praised by Trump administration, push back on Greenland

It wasn’t too long ago that U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration hailed the “growing influence of patriotic European parties,” but many of those party leaders have taken exception to his aggressive bid to seize control of Greenland for the United States.

Trump disputes Denmark’s centuries-old territorial claim to Greenland, and his threats have sparked outrage and a flurry of diplomatic activity among European leaders, a mix of liberal and traditional conservative figures.

Those threats also haven’t been welcomed among the far-right parties that the U.S. administration has viewed favourably on a range of other issues.

The second Trump presidency sent a clarion signal of a new approach to Europe in its first weeks, with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth assailing security on the continent and Vice-President JD Vance wading into the domestic politics of some key European allies to a degree not seen with recent U.S. presidential administrations.

Just days before a German federal election last February, Vance met with Alice Weidel, leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). Vance has also criticized a report from Germany’s intelligence services that classified the anti-immigration AfD as an “extremist” group.

Speaking in recent days, Weidel says Trump’s Greenland posture has “violated a fundamental campaign promise — namely not to interfere in other countries.” AfD co-chair Tino Chrupalla, at the same news conference, criticized what he called the “Wild West methods” of Trump.

Farage slams ‘very hostile act’

The aggressive U.S. statements, in which military options have not been ruled out, have caused confusion and consternation in Europe, as a 1951 agreement between the U.S. and Denmark gives Washington the right to move around freely and construct military bases in Greenland, as long as Denmark and Greenland are notified.

Trump this weekend signalled a willingness to levy new tariffs on several countries over the Greenland dispute, leading EU officials to consider possible countermeasures, including retaliatory tariffs and a so-called “bazooka,” its anti-coercion instrument.

Britain is no longer part of the European Union, thanks in no small part to the campaign efforts in 2016 of Nigel Farage, which were supported by Trump.

But Farage — now leader of the Reform UK Party — has also come out against what he has characterized as a “hostile act” coming from the U.S.

“Friends can disagree in private, and that’s fine. That’s part of life, part of politics,” Farage told Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday on Farage, his GB News program. “But to have a U.S. president threatening tariffs unless we agree that he can take over Greenland, by some means, without it seems even getting the consent of the people of Greenland … this is a very hostile act. There’s no other way I can put it.”

Johnson on Tuesday sought to assuage concerns in a pre-scheduled speech as he visits to mark the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence from British rule.

“We’ve always been able to work through our differences calmly as friends. We will continue to do that. I want to assure you this ⁠morning that that is still the case,” Johnson said in an address to lawmakers in the British Parliament.

Trump announced planned tariffs this weekend on eight countries, including the U.K, which sent small numbers of ‍military personnel to Greenland last week, following the U.S. president’s repeated statements that he wanted to take over Denmark’s vast Arctic island. Trump said the tariffs of 10 per cent would go into effect on Feb. 1 and rise to 25 per cent on June 1.

EU should hit back: France’s Bardella

France is another of the eight countries facing the prospect of those tariffs. While Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron have managed to carve out a working relationship dating back to 2017, the American has also courted Macron’s opponents.

Trump was quick last year to criticize a court ruling that will likely see Marine Le Pen of National Rally (RN), Macron’s biggest rivals, barred from running in the next election.

The National Rally’s Jordan Bardella, who would run in Le Pen’s absence when Macron leaves office in 2027, said just last month he was mostly on board with a U.S. national security strategy document that roiled some allies. That Trump administration document cited not just long-standing concerns about European military spending and economic performance, but also the “prospect of civilizational erasure” on the continent due to unchecked migration, a pet issue for Bardella.

The U.S. document hailed “the growing influence of patriotic European parties [which] gives cause for great optimism.”

Now, Bardella is calling on the EU to suspend the trade agreement it reached with the U.S. last summer, due to the Greenland issue.

“Donald Trump’s threats against the sovereignty of a state, especially a European one, are unacceptable,” Bardella wrote on social media on Sunday, days after he criticized Trump’s “imperialist ambitions” in both Greenland and Venezuela.

Fidesz says EU shouldn’t get involved

Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, arguably the G7 country leader Trump has clashed the least with, was more circumspect in her public language on the weekend, though she did say she told the U.S. president personally that new tariffs “would be a mistake.”

The Trump administration has received a measure of support from Fidesz, the Hungarian party that has served for several years as an inspiration for many MAGA Republicans.

Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said Monday that the Hungarian government doesn’t consider Greenland “an EU issue.” Instead, he said, Hungary sees the island as “a bilateral issue that can be resolved via talks between the two parties,” in reference to the U.S. and Denmark.