EU backs Denmark, Greenland as Trump eases threats (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Let's turn to Greenland now, where in the past hour it's been confirmed that Denmark's prime minister is travelling from Brussels to Greenland to meet the territory's prime minister. Meanwhile, the European Union says it will defend itself against any form of coercion after President Trump withdrew his threat to levy tariffs on US allies who oppose his plan to take over Greenland. EU leaders held an emergency meeting in Brussels which finished in the early hours of this morning. Mr Trump says a framework deal reached with the NATO Secretary General would allow the US to achieve everything it wanted in the semi-autonomous Danish territory. EU leaders said they would work to implement it but once again insisted only Denmark and Greenland could decide the future of Greenland. Here's the EU Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen.

[00:00:53] Speaker 2: First on Greenland, we are clearly in a better position than we were 24 hours ago and tonight we drew the lessons of our collective strategy. So what did we do? First of all, there was, as you said Antonio, unequivocal solidarity with Greenland and Denmark. Second, we also stood firmly with the six member states that were threatened with tariffs. Third point, we engaged very actively with the United States on various levels. We did so in a firm but non-escalatory manner. And the fourth point was that we are well prepared with trade countermeasures and non-tariff instruments if tariffs would have been applied.

[00:01:41] Speaker 1: Our correspondent Nick Beek has more on the mood in Brussels.

[00:01:46] Speaker 3: I think there's a real sense of relief that President Trump stepped back. First of all in saying that he would no longer contemplate the idea of using military force to take Greenland and then secondly when he removed that tariff threat against those eight European nations. So there is that sense of satisfaction that what they believe here was a very strong approach, one typified by being united, worked. And specifically what they're saying, we heard it there from Ursula von der Leyen, is that the fact that the Europeans really toughened their rhetoric but also talked quite specifically at times about the possible economic counter strike they might launch on the Americans in the future. They believe this helped change President Trump's mind. I think worth pointing out though that the chronology of course was that Mr Trump made this big U-turn after meeting Mark Rutte, the head of NATO, the NATO boss, in this meeting that was a bilateral one. It wasn't with all the other Europeans invited and we don't really know what this framework of a deal that Mr Trump says is brilliant for everyone, what that consists of and I think the Europeans, in particular Denmark and Greenland, they'll want to know that pretty sharpish.

[00:02:55] Speaker 1: Yes, we don't know the details of this framework agreement that you mentioned there. Could this issue come up again if it really hasn't been resolved from what we can see?

[00:03:09] Speaker 3: Absolutely, and I think the fact that President Trump, despite his double shift in position, has been pretty clear that he says the United States has to have Greenland, not just for its security but for global security, so that hasn't gone away. And there's been some suggestion that maybe what could be done is that there are US bases in Greenland that are created, there's already a big one there now, but if there are other ones and the presence is increased, maybe these little pockets could become American. The problem is that flies in the face of what the Europeans say is acceptable. They say, yes, the Americans are welcome to bring more soldiers and more defence capability and that could benefit everyone in the West, but the idea of sovereignty, the territory changing hands, is not up for negotiation. So, you know, if you put it like that, it's still hard to see how those two different conflicting angles can be resolved.

[00:04:04] Speaker 1: And that was the BBC's Nick Beak reporting from Brussels there.