A new report from The Wall Street Journal details a high-level meeting among European leaders who, according to the newspaper, increasingly viewed the United States as a security risk under President Donald Trump as geopolitical tensions mounted during his second term.
According to the Journal, the gathering took place at the European Council headquarters in Brussels under unusually strict security measures. Cameras and mobile phones were prohibited, and each head of government was instructed to attend alone. The meeting reportedly lasted roughly five hours and centered on how European allies should respond to Trump’s foreign policy positions.
One of the key issues discussed was Greenland. Citing national security concerns, Trump has repeatedly argued that the United States should acquire Greenland, the autonomous Danish territory located in the North Atlantic and Arctic Circle. While the United States already maintains a military base on the island and has an agreement allowing it to expand its military presence there, Trump has indicated he wants Greenland to become U.S. territory.
The Journal reported that concern among European leaders intensified after the United States conducted a military raid in Venezuela on Jan. 3, abducting then-President Nicolas Maduro and bringing him to the United States to face drug trafficking charges. Shortly after that operation, Trump again expressed his desire for Greenland, prompting further concern among European allies, according to the newspaper.
The report said French President Emmanuel Macron played a leading role during the Brussels meeting. France had recently deployed troops to Greenland to participate in Denmark’s Operation Arctic Endurance alongside forces from Canada, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden.
According to The Wall Street Journal, military personnel participating in the operation—including French and Danish forces—were prepared for the possibility of a direct military conflict with the United States.
Around the fifth hour of the meeting, Macron addressed the assembled leaders.
“We are drawing a line here,” Macron said, according to several leaders present and their senior aides cited by the Journal.
The newspaper reported that for the previous year, America’s European allies had attempted to manage relations with Trump through what it described as a combination of flattery and concessions on defense and trade issues in hopes of buying time.
The Journal quoted Macron as arguing that Europe’s dependence on the United States had become a security liability, a position he had advocated for years with increasing urgency.
“There is no going back,” Macron said.
Beyond military concerns, the Journal also reported that several European governments are accelerating efforts to reduce their reliance on American technology companies.
According to the newspaper, governments from France to the Netherlands are quietly replacing U.S. technology within government systems by adopting European open-source software and encouraging civil servants to stop using Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Office. The report also said European nations are investing hundreds of billions of dollars to strengthen domestic space companies, artificial intelligence firms and data centers in an effort to reduce dependence on major American technology companies.
The Wall Street Journal further reported that intelligence assessments across Europe have increasingly focused on what officials described as the unpredictability of Trump’s leadership.
According to one assessment from Southern Europe cited by the newspaper, “You are not dealing with an administration that has processes, you are dealing with a single volatile individual.”
The report also said Britain’s MI6 warned Prime Minister Keir Starmer that the atmosphere inside Trump’s second White House resembled “‘The Crucible’ meets ‘Wolf Hall,’” referencing fictional works about the Salem Witch Trials and the court of King Henry VIII. According to the Journal, the British intelligence agency also instructed its personnel not to discuss the president with their CIA counterparts.
The newspaper concluded that many European leaders have become increasingly frustrated after determining that their previous efforts to flatter Trump produced what it described as “diminishing returns.”
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