Greenland crisis: Europe needs the US, but it also needs to stand up to Trump

US president’s increasingly bellicose demands for control of the island may force the EU to draw a line in the snow

• Greenland: new shipping routes, hidden minerals – and a frontline between the US and Russia?

The crisis over Greenland may deliver the moment when Europe must stand up to Donald Trump, as officials have said a US attempt to annex the territory could shatter the Nato transatlantic alliance.

European leaders have entertained Trump’s demands for nearly a year as he has pushed Nato countries to increase their defence spending to 5% of GDP, and threatened to pull US support from Ukraine as part of a peace process that appears to favour Russia. They have also given a muted response to US adventurism abroad including the capture and rendition of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro.