EU leaders have cautiously welcomed Donald Trump’s decision to drop his threat of tariffs against European allies and the apparent softening of his desire to seize Greenland, but they still voiced concern over relations with the US ahead of an emergency summit to discuss the issue.
The Europeans who gathered in Brussels on Thursday evening were also digesting a blistering attack on them by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who accused them of failing to “take the lead in defending freedom”.
The US president dropped his Greenland threats — which had prompted the EU to draw up tit-for-tat trade retaliation options — on Wednesday in exchange for talks over an enhanced military presence on the Danish Arctic island, easing the biggest crisis between the US and Europe for decades.