A day before Trump's arrival in Davos, Ursula von der Leyen conveyed the EU's strong warning on Greenland to the US leader

Greenland's sovereignty is “non-negotiable” and the EU's response will be “firm, united and proportionate,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday in Davos, according to Reuters and Politico.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday warned Washington against meddling in Greenland and said Europe's response to US President Donald Trump's threats would be “unwavering”.

“Throwing us into a dangerous downward spiral would only help the very adversaries we are so determined to keep out of our strategic landscape,” von der Leyen said in a special speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“So our response will be firm, united and proportionate,” she said.

Greenland's sovereignty is “non-negotiable”, von der Leyen added. “It is the sovereign people who decide their own future,” said the president of the European Commission.

But she appealed to Trump's transactional spirit: “In politics, as in business: a deal is a deal. And when friends shake hands, that gesture has to mean something,” she said.

She pointed out that Trump's latest threats to impose tariffs on EU countries in retaliation for sending troops to Greenland were a “mistake” that emptied the spirit of the agreement reached last summer between Washington and Brussels.

Von der Leyen stressed that they are working on a package of measures to support security in the Arctic.

The EU is also working on “a massive increase in European investment in Greenland”, she said, to support the local economy and infrastructure.

The Commission President also said the EU would work with the US and other partners on Arctic security more broadly, adding that the planned increase in defense spending could be used for “European icebreaking capacity and other equipment vital to Arctic security”.

Socialists and liberals are tired of the dialogue with Trump

The EU has prepared a package of tariffs that could be triggered if Trump follows through on his threat of economic sanctions against states that have actively supported Denmark in Greenland. And the anti-coercion tool, the powerful economic weapon of the community bloc, is also taken into account.

While European populists, the largest political group in the European Parliament, were more restrained, liberals and socialists declared themselves ready to enter into a trade conflict with the US.

Talks with Donald Trump have proved ineffective and Brussels should use its full trade and regulatory arsenal to show Washington it is serious, the leaders of the European Parliament's socialist and liberal groups said on Tuesday.

They have rejected a more conciliatory strategy advocated by their allies in the European People's Party, Germany and Italy, who favor keeping calm, avoiding public threats and pursuing diplomacy behind closed doors.

“We see that the negotiation tactic is not a tactic, it is not working,” said Valérie Hayer, president of the liberal group Renew Europe, adding that the EU should use its internal market of 400 million people as “leverage” and launch “the arsenal of deterrence we have against the United States.”

The measures include imposing tariffs on key US products, particularly those produced in Republican-controlled states, as well as restricting US companies' access to the EU market.

“I would ask Donald Trump if he is ready to tell American companies that it is over, that they will no longer have access. I do not think that American companies, including the digital giants, are ready to give up on our market. Certainly not,” she said.

The European Parliament should ask the Commission to launch its anti-coercion tool, said the president of the Group of Socialists and Democrats, Iratxe García.

“It's clear and obvious that this is a tool that the European Union has given us to defend against trade attacks like the one from the Trump administration, and we believe that these are tools that need to be activated,” she said.

A new security strategy

While pleading for the maintenance of the transatlantic relationship, the president of the European Commission acknowledged that the security situation in Europe has changed, following Trump's moves.

“I think Europe needs to adapt to the new security architecture and the realities we are facing today,” von der Leyen said, without specifically mentioning Trump.

“That is why Europe is preparing its own security strategy, which we plan to publish later this year,” she said.

She first announced the strategy last week at a press conference in Cyprus to “recognise geostrategic changes and needs” and calculate the EU's “appropriate response”.

“A new Europe is already emerging”

Von der Leyen also advocated in his speech for building an economically independent Europe.

“Seismic” geopolitical shocks should push the European Union to “permanently change” and seize the opportunity to build a “new independent Europe”, the president of the European Commission said in Davos.

“This new Europe is already emerging,” von der Leyen said, devoting a significant part of his speech to stressing the EU's ever-closer ties with countries around the world, such as South America's Mercosur bloc, Indonesia, Mexico and India.

“Europe wants to do business with the growth centers of today and the economic powerhouses of this century,” she said.

Trump is coming to Davos on Wednesday

US President Donald Trump has announced that he has agreed to attend a “multi-party” meeting on Greenland during the World Economic Forum in Davos after having a “very good” phone conversation with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

Trump is expected at the forum on Wednesday. “As I have made very clear to everyone, Greenland is imperative to national and global security. It cannot back down,” he wrote.

But the news was not encouraging for anyone, especially since Trump accompanied his announcement with various other threats, against France or Greenland.

European shares and Wall Street futures fell for a second straight day, while the dollar and US Treasuries also fell as investors continued to shun US assets.

Increasing tensions

Trump's comments come amid rising tensions between Europe and Washington over the US president's threats to seize the Arctic island.

On Monday, Denmark sent a “substantial contribution” of soldiers and its army chief to the island, in addition to the more than 200 troops already there.

On Tuesday, Trump posted what appeared to be an AI-generated image of himself, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Greenland with an American flag and a sign that read: “US Territory EST 2026.”

The US president's threat to impose 10% tariffs on European states has raised the specter of a trade war with the EU bloc, throwing the transatlantic relationship into crisis.