Something in Europe has snapped. Donald Trump doubled down again on Monday, in his insistence that the US needs Greenland for national security reasons.
Is he prepared to use force to seize it, journalists asked him? "No comment," said the president, sending chills down the spine of Greenland's anxious inhabitants. Again.
Greenland is a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark - a member of the EU and of Nato. President Trump is now leaning heavily on Denmark's allies in both those organisations to abandon Copenhagen and let the US take control of Greenland, or face punitive taxes on all their exports to the United States.
It's a horror scenario for European economies, which are already in the doldrums. Especially those reliant on exporting to the US, like Germany's car industry and Italy's luxury goods market.
On Monday Germany's finance minister said, "we will not allow ourselves to be blackmailed" after an emergency meeting with his French counterpart.
