Sánchez warns U.S. move on Greenland would hand victory to Putin

Pedro Sánchez warned in an interview published Jan. 18 in La Vanguardia that any U.S. military attempt to seize Greenland would “make Vladimir Putin the happiest man in the world,” arguing such a move would legitimize Russia’s attempted invasion of Ukraine and sound “the death knell for NATO.”

Sánchez’s intervention sharpened European concern after a public episode in which U.S. President Donald Trump pursued the purchase of Greenland and posted on Truth Social a plan to impose tariffs on European goods to press the matter. Mr. Trump proposed a 10 percent tariff beginning Feb. 1 on goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and Great Britain, rising to 25 percent on June 1 and remaining in place “until a deal was reached for the U.S. to purchase Greenland,” the president wrote on the platform. Leaders in Copenhagen and Nuuk have repeatedly said Greenland is not for sale.

European capitals reacted with alarm to the twin pressure points of transactional diplomacy and the threat of unilateral force. A joint statement by eight countries — the United Kingdom, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden — warned the threats risked a “dangerous downward spiral,” affirmed solidarity with the Kingdom of Denmark and the people of Greenland, and said they were prepared to discuss security only on the basis of sovereignty and territorial integrity. French President Emmanuel Macron is reported to have said that “no intimidation or threats will influence us.” U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the tariff announcement “completely wrong,” and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni telephoned the U.S. president to label the threatened tariffs a “mistake.”

Sánchez framed his warning in strategic terms familiar to governments still mobilizing support for Ukraine: a Western power employing force against a small Arctic territory would, he said, create a dangerous precedent that Moscow could exploit. Other versions of Sánchez’s comments published in regional outlets said such a move could allow Russia “to secure two major victories at the same time” and give Mr. Putin “double reason to rejoice.”

Analysts in Europe responded by underlining the diplomatic complexity. Keir Giles of Chatham House argued that the episode underscored divergent visions of security across the Atlantic, saying “confirmation that the U.S. does not have a common security vision with Europe doesn’t change the position of Ukraine.” His point echoed a broader worry: that commercial coercion and unilateral territorial bargaining could entangle trade disputes with collective defense obligations and weaken coordination on Russia.

Madrid also faces a tactical choice. Sánchez told La Vanguardia that Spain has not yet decided whether to send troops to take part in exercises organized by Denmark in and around Greenland. That hesitation reflects a wider balancing act for European governments that must weigh alliance solidarity, sovereign rights of small partners and the political cost of appearing to acquiesce to pressure from a superpower.

The episode has laid bare how actions perceived as transactional or coercive can ripple beyond bilateral E.U.-U.S. relations, affecting NATO cohesion and the broader effort to uphold international norms established after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. For European leaders, Sánchez’s stark warning is both a political signal and a diplomatic appeal to preserve a unified response at a time when unity remains central to deterring further aggression.