 "French President Emmanuel Macron looks at US President Donald Trump during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (not pictured) and European leaders amid negotiations to end the Russian war in Ukraine, at the White House in Washington, DC, US, August 18, 2025. File Image/Reuters")
France has warned the Donald Trump administration of the United States not to “mess around” with Greenland and said that any military move on the island would amount to crossing a line that would create a “totally new world”.
In an interview with the Financial Times, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure said he had told his American counterpart, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, that any attempt to seize Greenland would represent a “crossed line” and endanger the economic relationship between the United States and the European Union.
“Greenland is a sovereign part of a sovereign country that is part of the EU. That shouldn’t be messed around [with],” Lescure said.
If the United States invades Greenland, Lescure warned, it would create “a totally new world”.
The warning came after France joined fellow NATO members Denmark, Germany, Sweden, and Norway in deploying soldiers and military assets to Greenland to bolster its defence in the wake of Trump’s threats of invasion and occupation of the island.
Trump administration has become a ‘paradox’, says France
Lescure said the Trump administration’s approach to Greenland was the latest example of the “paradox” it had become — sometimes behaving like an ally and at other times as an unpredictable adversary. However, he stressed that ensuring dialogue remained important.
“When we disagree, it’s always better to stay engaged, and that’s what we are doing. The dialogue has to keep on going as long as lines that shouldn’t be crossed are not crossed,” Lescure told the FT.
Lescure’s warning came as President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would deploy “land, air, and sea assets” to Greenland to strengthen the island’s defences. Without naming Trump, he also criticised “a new colonialism that is at work among some” actors in the world.
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View All“France and Europeans must continue, wherever their interests are threatened, to be present without escalation, but uncompromising on respect for territorial sovereignty,” Macron said.
Previously, Macron had warned Trump that a military move on Greenland would trigger a cascade of unintended consequences.
“If the sovereignty of a European ally were affected, the cascading consequences would be unprecedented. France is closely monitoring the situation and will act in full solidarity with Denmark and its sovereignty,” a spokesperson quoted Macron as saying.