The president of Finland, Alexander Stump, announced today that he wants a plan to strengthen Arctic security to be ready by the NATO Summit to be held in July in Turkey, after the US announced that it had reached a framework for an agreement to de-escalate the dispute over the future of Greenland.
Earlier today, US President Donald Trump claimed to have secured full and permanent US access to Greenland in an agreement with NATO. North Atlantic Alliance Secretary General Mark Rutte said allies should strengthen their commitment to Arctic security to fend off threats from Russia and China.
Trump withdrew his threats to impose tariffs on eight European countries over their stance on Greenland and ruled out taking the island by force.
Stump said he wants a package of measures to be agreed to strengthen Arctic security, which would be similar to the deal NATO leaders made last year to increase their defence spending, as demanded by Trump. “In an ideal world, we would have something ready by the NATO meeting in Ankara,” Stump told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The Finnish president added that a more robust security architecture for the Arctic would require closer cooperation between the Nordic countries (Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden) and the United States and Canada.
Trump’s threat to impose additional tariffs on European countries that oppose his ambitious plan to acquire Greenland has caused turmoil in European capitals, and European leaders will hold an emergency meeting on the issue later in Brussels. Stump said he was optimistic that European leaders would maintain their united front and stressed that it was particularly important that the views of Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen be heard.
Trump claims that only the US can guarantee Greenland’s security against China and Russia’s ambitions in the Arctic, but his bellicose stance has threatened to break up NATO and spark a new trade war with Europe.
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