The Greenland gambit could leave America stranded

Published January 22, 2026 5:00pm ET



President Donald Trump’s announcement that he will neither invade Greenland nor impose tariffs on European countries to force a sale of the island came as welcome news for conservatives and America’s European allies. That doesn’t mean that everything is hunky dory.

A few facts remain clear. The president of the United States threatened a NATO ally with invasion, with neither just cause nor congressional authorization. He sent a bizarre text to the Norwegian Prime Minister, seemingly tying his potential actions against the Danish territory to the Nobel Prize committee’s decision not to award him a peace prize last year, something the Norwegian government has nothing to do with. His tariff threat was another arguably unconstitutional act, as no possible congressional delegation of its tariff-setting power has been made with the intent of giving the president leverage in international negotiations to purchase or seize another country’s territory.

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