BRUSSELS: US President Donald Trump's threats to annex Greenland and impose tariffs on its backers pose a challenge to Europe's security, principles and prosperity, European Council President António Costa said on Wednesday.
"All these three dimensions are being tested in the current moment of transatlantic relations," said Costa, who has convened an emergency summit of the leaders of all 27 European Union member states on Thursday.
Trump's determination to " acquire " Greenland — a mineral-rich, semiautonomous Danish territory in the Arctic region — for what he claims are security reasons, has undermined trust in the United States among allies in Europe and Canada.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum later on Wednesday, Trump might have eased some concerns when he made clear for the first time that he would not use force to seize Greenland, saying: "I won't do that. Okay?"
Denmark angered Trump after sending a military "reconnaissance" force to Greenland. A small numbers of troops from several European nations joined, and Denmark is weighing a longer-term military presence there.
Costa said EU leaders are united on "the principles of international law, territorial integrity and national sovereignty," something the bloc has underlined in defending Ukraine against invasion by Russia, and which is now threatened in Greenland.
In a speech to EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France, he also stressed that only "Denmark and Greenland can decide their future."
Costa said that "we stand ready to defend ourselves, our member states, our citizens, our companies, against any form of coercion. And the European Union has the power and the tools to do so." He also insisted that "further tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and are incompatible with the EU-US trade agreement."
The lawmakers must endorse that deal made last July, but it's now been put on hold.
Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament's International Trade Committee, said Trump is still "using tariffs as a coercive instrument."
"Until the threats are over, there will be no possibility for compromise," Lange said, describing tariffs as "an attack against the economic and territorial sovereignty and integrity of the European Union."
EU leaders have been galvanized by Trump's threats over Greenland, and are rethinking their relations with America, their longtime ally and the most powerful member of NATO.
"Appeasement is always a sign of weakness. Europe cannot afford to be weak — neither against its enemies, nor ally," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, long a staunch supporter of strong transatlantic ties, posted on social media on Tuesday.
"Appeasement means no results, only humiliation. European assertiveness and self-confidence have become the need of the moment," Tusk wrote.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who manages trade on behalf of the EU, warned that the bloc is "at a crossroads."
Should tariffs come, she said, "we are fully prepared to act, if necessary, with unity, urgency and determination."
In Strasbourg, she told the lawmakers that the commission is working on "a massive European investment surge in Greenland" to beef up its economy and infrastructure, as well as a new European security strategy.
Security around the island itself should be boosted with partners like the UK, Canada, Norway and Iceland, among others, von der Leyen said.
Despite Trump apparently backing off from military threats, Greenland's government Wednesday told its citizens to be prepared as it published a handbook on what to do in a crisis.
The guide -- in Greenlandic and Danish -- does not reference any threat from the US and directs Greenlanders to ensure they have sufficient supplies at home to be able to survive for five days. The guide is similar to one published by Nordic nations Finland, Norway and Sweden and recommends people have three liters (0.8 gallons) of water per person per day, canned food and fuel as well as hunting and medical supplies.
"We just went to the grocery store and bought the supplies," Tony Jakobsen in Greenland's capital Nuuk said, showing AP the contents of bags which included candles, snacks and toilet roll. Jakobsen said he thought Trump's rhetoric toward Greenland was "just threats... but it's better to be ready than not ready."
Speaking in Davos, Trump described Greenland as a strategic piece of ice which is largely uninhabited.
It's "insulting" that Trump "talks about the Greenlandic people and the Greenlandic nation as just an ice cube," Johnny Hedemann told AP.
Hedemann spoke as he was on the way to the shops to buy a camping stove and mashed potatoes which "you can just add water to." A few years ago, he said, Nuuk had no power for several days and that was "a taster" of what could happen.
"Living in this nature, you have to be prepared for almost anything. And now there's another threat -- and that's Trump," he added.
Hedemann also said he thought it unlikely that Trump would take Greenland by force but agreed it is best to be prepared because "with this lunatic, you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. He can make things very bad for everyone."
