The second term of US President Donald Trump has brought unprecedented strain on once-solid German-American relations. The issue of Greenland could be a tipping point. DW looks back on a year of trans-Atlantic tensions.
The dispute between NATO partners in Europe and the US is becoming more heated by the day: most recently, US President Donald Trump exacerbated the dispute over Greenland by announcing special tariffs for several European countries, including Germany. Germany and other European countries had sent soldiers to Greenland following Trump’s demand to take the island by force. Now the EU is considering counter-tariffs on goods from the US.
Just a few days ago, during a visit to Washington, Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul optimistically announced, “Our partnership is strong; we are capable of acting, and we are determined to continue to develop this partnership.” The US stood, politically and militarily in NATO, “fully and completely at Europe’s side,” Wadephul said.
There are growing doubts about this support, not only that the US would really protect European NATO countries in the event of a Russian attack. If the US were to actually violate the sovereignty of its NATO partner Denmark, the alliance would be over, as Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has said
There are growing doubts about this support, not only that the US would really protect European NATO countries in the event of a Russian attack. If the US were to actually violate the sovereignty of its NATO partner Denmark, the alliance would be over, as Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has said.
This is a really dramatically tense time. Rachel Tausendfreund, an American researcher at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), told DW. “Germany is wondering right now if it has to be preparing for an attack by its most important NATO ally. In that sense, the relationship has never been worse. On the other hand, by all accounts, Chancellor [Friedrich] Merz and Donald Trump have a pretty good working relationship.”
But that has its limits. Regarding the intervention in Venezuela and the kidnapping of President Nicolas Maduro by US Special Forces, the chancellor remained cautious and called the legal situation “complicated,” although others called it out as a clear breach of international law. Such restraint is becoming increasingly difficult.
Johannes Varwick, Professor of International Relations at the University of Halle, thinks that a takeover of Greenland “would indeed be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. I believe that the trust relationship with the US would probably be irrevocably broken. In principle, you must then press the reset button and see on what basis you can work together in the future. That would, however, be very, very difficult because Germany is dependent on the US in many matters. And this breakup would be expensive, it would be risky, but then probably unavoidable
Germany’s enormous dependence on the US
As a staunch trans-Atlantacist, Merz absolutely wants to avoid such a breakup. Trump, who on January 20, 2025, began his second term as US president, has however disregarded almost all previously held beliefs regarding the close partnership.
Bob_Spud on
There are three more years to go. Will be interesting to see happens before Jan 20 2029 when Trump ceases to be in office.
Soft-Ingenuity2262 on
“US-*insert_any_country* rift is looming cuz the mad orange.”
3 Comments
The second term of US President Donald Trump has brought unprecedented strain on once-solid German-American relations. The issue of Greenland could be a tipping point. DW looks back on a year of trans-Atlantic tensions.
The dispute between NATO partners in Europe and the US is becoming more heated by the day: most recently, US President Donald Trump exacerbated the dispute over Greenland by announcing special tariffs for several European countries, including Germany. Germany and other European countries had sent soldiers to Greenland following Trump’s demand to take the island by force. Now the EU is considering counter-tariffs on goods from the US.
Just a few days ago, during a visit to Washington, Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul optimistically announced, “Our partnership is strong; we are capable of acting, and we are determined to continue to develop this partnership.” The US stood, politically and militarily in NATO, “fully and completely at Europe’s side,” Wadephul said.
There are growing doubts about this support, not only that the US would really protect European NATO countries in the event of a Russian attack. If the US were to actually violate the sovereignty of its NATO partner Denmark, the alliance would be over, as Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has said
There are growing doubts about this support, not only that the US would really protect European NATO countries in the event of a Russian attack. If the US were to actually violate the sovereignty of its NATO partner Denmark, the alliance would be over, as Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has said.
This is a really dramatically tense time. Rachel Tausendfreund, an American researcher at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), told DW. “Germany is wondering right now if it has to be preparing for an attack by its most important NATO ally. In that sense, the relationship has never been worse. On the other hand, by all accounts, Chancellor [Friedrich] Merz and Donald Trump have a pretty good working relationship.”
But that has its limits. Regarding the intervention in Venezuela and the kidnapping of President Nicolas Maduro by US Special Forces, the chancellor remained cautious and called the legal situation “complicated,” although others called it out as a clear breach of international law. Such restraint is becoming increasingly difficult.
Johannes Varwick, Professor of International Relations at the University of Halle, thinks that a takeover of Greenland “would indeed be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. I believe that the trust relationship with the US would probably be irrevocably broken. In principle, you must then press the reset button and see on what basis you can work together in the future. That would, however, be very, very difficult because Germany is dependent on the US in many matters. And this breakup would be expensive, it would be risky, but then probably unavoidable
Germany’s enormous dependence on the US
As a staunch trans-Atlantacist, Merz absolutely wants to avoid such a breakup. Trump, who on January 20, 2025, began his second term as US president, has however disregarded almost all previously held beliefs regarding the close partnership.
There are three more years to go. Will be interesting to see happens before Jan 20 2029 when Trump ceases to be in office.
“US-*insert_any_country* rift is looming cuz the mad orange.”