World
Trump's words on Greenland and borders ring alarms in Europe, but officials have a measured response
PARIS (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has tossed expansionist rhetoric at U.S. allies and potential adversaries with arguments that the frontiers of American power need to be extended into Canada and the Danish territory of Greenland, and southward to include the Panama Canal.
Trump’s suggestions that international borders can be redrawn — by force if necessary — are particularly inflammatory in Europe. His words run contrary to the argument European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are trying to impress on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
But many European leaders — who’ve learned to expect the unexpected from Trump and have seen that actions don’t always follow his words — have been measured in their response, with some taking a nothing-to-see-here view rather than vigorously defend European Union member Denmark.
Analysts, though, say that even words can damage U.S.-European relations ahead of Trump’s second presidency.
A diplomatic response in Europe
Several officials in Europe — where governments depend on U.S. trade, energy, investment, technology, and defense cooperation for security — emphasized their belief that Trump has no intention of marching troops into Greenland.
“I think we can exclude that the United States in the coming years will try to use force to annex territory that interests it,” Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni said.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pushed back — but carefully, saying “borders must not be moved by force” and not mentioning Trump by name.
This week, as Ukrainian President Zelenskyy pressed Trump’s incoming administration to continue supporting Ukraine, he said: “No matter what’s going on in the world, everyone wants to feel sure that their country will not just be erased off the map.”
Since Putin marched troops across Ukrainian borders in 2022, Zelenskyy and allies have been fighting — at great cost — to defend the principle that has underpinned the international order since World War II: that powerful nations can’t simply gobble up others.
The British and French foreign ministers have said they can’t foresee a U.S. invasion of Greenland. Still, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot portrayed Trump’s remarks as a wake-up call.
“Do we think we’re entering into a period that sees the return of the law of the strongest?” the French minister said. “‘Yes.”
On Friday, the prime minister of Greenland — a semiautonomous Arctic territory that isn’t part of the EU but whose 56,000 residents are EU citizens, as part of Denmark — said its people don’t want to be Americans but that he’s open to greater cooperation with the U.S.
“Cooperation is about dialogue,” leader Múte B. Egede said.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called the U.S. “our closest ally” and said: “We have to stand together.”
Analysts find Trump’s words troubling
European security analysts agreed there’s no real likelihood of Trump using the military against NATO ally Denmark, but nevertheless expressed profound disquiet.
Analysts warned of turbulence ahead for trans-Atlantic ties, international norms and the NATO military alliance — not least because of the growing row with member Canada over Trump’s repeated suggestions that it become a U.S. state.
“There is a possibility, of course, that this is just … a new sheriff in town,” said Flemming Splidsboel Hansen, who specializes in foreign policy, Russia and Greenland at the Danish Institute for International Studies. “I take some comfort from the fact that he is now insisting that Canada should be included in the U.S., which suggests that it is just sort of political bravado.
“But damage has already been done. And I really cannot remember a previous incident like this where an important ally — in this case the most important ally — would threaten Denmark or another NATO member state.”
Hansen said he fears NATO may be falling apart even before Trump’s inauguration.
“I worry about our understanding of a collective West,” he said. “What does this even mean now? What may this mean just, say, one year from now, two years from now, or at least by the end of this second Trump presidency? What will be left?”
Security concerns as possible motivation
Some diplomats and analysts see a common thread in Trump’s eyeing of Canada, the Panama Canal and Greenland: securing resources and waterways to strengthen the U.S. against potential adversaries.
Paris-based analyst Alix Frangeul-Alves said Trump’s language is “all part of his ‘Make America Great Again’ mode.”
In Greenland’s soils, she noted, are rare earths critical for advanced and green technologies. China dominates global supplies of the valuable minerals, which the U.S., Europe and other nations view as a security risk.
“Any policy made in Washington is made through the lens of the competition with China,” said Frangeul-Alves, who focuses on U.S. politics for the German Marshall Fund.
Some observers said Trump’s suggested methods are fraught with peril.
Security analyst Alexander Khara said Trump’s claim that “we need Greenland for national security purposes” reminded him of Putin’s comments on Crimea when Russia seized the strategic Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.
Suggesting that borders might be flexible is “a completely dangerous precedent,” said Khara, director of the Centre for Defense Strategies in Kyiv.
“We’re in a time of transition from the old system based on norms and principles,” he said, and “heading to more conflicts, more chaos and more uncertainty.”
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AP journalists Jill Lawless in London; Raf Casert in Brussels; Daria Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia; Geir Moulson and David Keyton in Berlin; and Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed.
Donald Trump hints at exploring paths to a third term as United States president despite constitutional limits.
US President Donald Trump has said he is “not joking” about seeking a third term in office, which is barred by the United States Constitution.
Speaking in a phone interview with NBC News on Sunday, Trump directly addressed speculation over a potential third term, saying, “No, I’m not joking. I’m not joking,” but added, “It is far too early to think about it.”
“There are methods which you could do it, as you know,” he said, without elaborating on potential legal or political avenues.
The US Constitution’s 22nd Amendment limits presidents to two four-year terms, whether consecutive or not.
The 22nd Amendment says that “no person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice”.
Trump was asked in the NBC interview about a scenario where his running mate, Vice President JD Vance, could assume office before stepping aside to allow him to take over. Trump acknowledged the possibility, stating, “That’s one” approach.
“But there are others, too,” he added, without elaborating further.
‘We’re working on it’
Overturning the 22nd Amendment would require a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress and ratification by three-quarters of the 50 US states.
Trump, who began his second, non-consecutive term in January, has repeatedly alluded to extending his time in office.
Some of his allies have also floated the idea of keeping him in power beyond 2028, while Trump himself has occasionally teased about the possibility, often in ways that taunt his political opponents.
If he were to pursue another term in the 2028 election, Trump, who was the oldest president to be inaugurated in the US in January 2025, would then be 82 years old.
The precedent of a two-term limit dates back to 1796, when George Washington voluntarily stepped down after two terms.
This tradition remained largely unchallenged for more than 140 years until Franklin D Roosevelt won a third term in 1940 amid the Great Depression and World War II. Roosevelt died months into his fourth term in 1945, prompting Congress to formalise term limits with the 22nd Amendment in 1951.
Longtime Trump adviser Steve Bannon suggested in a March 19 interview with NewsNation that Trump may seek re-election in 2028.
“We’re working on it,” Bannon said, adding that his team was exploring ways to reinterpret the definition of term limits to facilitate a third term.
Note: Map shows the area with a shake intensity of 4 or greater, which U.S.G.S. defines as “light,” though the earthquake may be felt outside the areas shown. The New York Times
A major, 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck in the South Pacific Ocean on Monday, according to the United States Geological Survey. The quake prompted a brief “Tsunami Threat” for Tonga.
Preliminary reports from the U.S. Tsunami Warning System said tsunami waves were possible for coastlines within about 190 miles of the earthquake’s epicenter, including those on Tonga. The system issued an all-clear notice about an hour later, after a tsunami would have struck had one materialized.
Tsunamis are a series of long waves caused by a large and sudden displacement of water in the ocean, usually from a large earthquake on or below the ocean floor. Tsunamis radiate in all directions from the epicenter and can cause dangerous coastal flooding and powerful currents that can last for hours or days.
The temblor happened at 1:18 a.m. Tonga time about 49 miles southeast of Pangai, Tonga, data from the U.S.G.S shows.
U.S.G.S. data earlier reported that the magnitude was 7.1.
As seismologists review available data, they may revise the earthquake’s reported magnitude. Additional information collected about the earthquake may also prompt U.S.G.S. scientists to update the shake-severity map.
Aftershocks in the region
An aftershock is usually a smaller earthquake that follows a larger one in the same general area. Aftershocks are typically minor adjustments along the portion of a fault that slipped at the time of the initial earthquake.
Quakes and aftershocks within 100 miles
Aftershocks can occur days, weeks or even years after the first earthquake. These events can be of equal or larger magnitude to the initial earthquake, and they can continue to affect already damaged locations.
When quakes and aftershocks occurred
Source: United States Geological Survey | Notes: Shaking categories are based on the Modified Mercalli Intensity scale. When aftershock data is available, the corresponding maps and charts include earthquakes within 100 miles and seven days of the initial quake. All times above are Tonga time. Shake data is as of Monday, March 31 at 2:33 a.m. Tonga time. Aftershocks data is as of Monday, March 31 at 8:04 a.m. Tonga time.
Pope Francis publicly acknowledged that this Lenten season is a time of healing for his soul and body.
On Sunday, the Vatican released the text of Francis’ prepared Sunday Angelus prayer. It is the seventh straight Sunday that his illness has prevented him from delivering the blessing from a window over St. Peter’s Square as usual.
“Dearest friends, let us live this Lent as a time of healing, all the more as it is the Jubilee,” Francis said. “I too am experiencing it this way, in my soul and in my body.”
“That is why I give heartfelt thanks to all those who, in the image of the Saviour, are instruments of healing for their neighbour with their word and their knowledge, with kindness and with prayer,” he continued. “Frailty and illness are experiences we all have in common; all the more, however, we are brothers in the salvation Christ has given us.”
POPE FRANCIS’ DOCTORS CONSIDERED ENDING TREATMENT, SAID ‘THERE WAS A REAL RISK HE MIGHT NOT MAKE IT’: REPORT
Pope Francis leaves in a car after appearing at a window of the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome, Sunday, March 23, 2025, where he was being treated. (AP/Stefano Costantino)
His remarks then turned to world conflicts, with a focus on South Sudan, where he said “the war continues to claim innocent victims.”
“I urge the parties concerned in the conflict to put the safeguarding of the lives of their civilian brothers and sisters first; and I hope that new negotiations will begin as soon as possible, capable of securing a lasting solution to the crisis,” he said. “May the international community increase its efforts to address the appalling humanitarian catastrophe.”
POPE FRANCIS MAKES FIRST PUBLIC APPEARANCE IN FIVE WEEKS
Faithful and pilgrims gather in St. Peter’s Square at The Vatican to follow on giant screens a live broadcast from Rome’s Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic, on Sunday, March 23, 2025, where Pope Francis made his first public appearance since he was hospitalized on Feb. 14 with bilateral pneumonia. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
The 88-year-old pontiff is still recovering from a respiratory infection, according to the Holy See Press Office. He continues to be weaned off oxygen support during the day and night, and his blood levels are normal. However, his medical team has ordered a strict convalescence period of at least two months following his hospital release last week.
Francis has shown “a truly surprising improvement,” the doctor who coordinated the pontiff’s five-week hospitalization said Saturday.
Surgeon Sergio Alfieri speaks to journalists on Saturday, March 22, 2025, in the entrance hall of Rome’s Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic, where Pope Francis has been treated for bilateral pneumonia since Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
“I find him very lively,” Dr. Sergio Alfieri said, after visiting the pope at his apartment in the Santa Marta Domus on Wednesday, three days after his release from Rome’s Gemelli hospital. “I believe that he will return if not to 100%, 90% of where he was before.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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