#Trump's threats against #Greenland pose a significant risk for #Europe, but there is no reason to despair.

Firstly, a diplomatic lever: military bases.

The US relies on its military bases in Europe for lots of its Operations in the Middle East, but also on Europe's ports.

The first and most obvious action Europe could take would be to make it clear to the Trump administration that any attack on Greenland would lead to the immediate and irrevocable closure of these bases.

The cost to US influence of such a decision would be extremely high.
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Secondly, an economic lever: tariffs and sanctions.

This could involve decisions like closing the EU market to US big tech, or imposing significant tariff barriers on certain products.

Here, ambiguity is important: to keep the US guessing, the EU should have as many people as possible (national governments, Commissioner, parliamentarians, high rep etc..) make as many different threats as possible. This could be key to deterring the US.
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Finally, there is one last lever that most people have written off: the military one.

Greenland represents an extremely challenging terrain and environment that US forces are not used to operating in.

However, European Troops, in particular from Nordic countries, are trained and equipped for precisely that environment.

Deploying them to Greenland now would be an immediate and effective deterrent, in particular to those US generals who remember Vietnam.

So there we have it, 3 main routes for deterrence, which we need to apply starting from now.

Because Trump knows that the EU can significantly swing the midterms with sanctions/tariffs.

If he wants to take Greenland, he'll need to do it early this year to retain power in the midterms (provided free and fair elections actually take place).