Trump’s Greenland threats to allies are unparalleled

US President Donald Trump’s apparently forceful threat to force Western allies not to oppose his proposed annexation of Greenland, or face further damage to their trade with the US, is without precedent.

We’ve had some unusual and unexpected economic threats from President Trump in the past year, but I think it’s safe to say that this one has surpassed them all, and taken us into both surreal and downright dangerous territory.

If taken at face value, this is a form of economic warfare that the White House is waging on its closest allies.

That’s because it targets allies at incredibly short notice and for a reason that could tear Nato and the western alliance apart.

This will leave the officials from the countries completely confused. In fact, it is so rare that they can be more confused than angry.

No one in the world would have thought that a threat like this – based on your ally’s land claim – would actually happen. Does Trump really have the support in the US, in Congress, even in his own administration to do this?

Is this, as some trade officials believe, the biggest TACO (Trump will Chicken Out) of all time? These things can come and go and, economically, these countries are managing the damage so far.

Consider Canada. It has seen its trade in the US decline. But prime minister Mark Carney’s strategy has seen Canada’s trade with the rest of the world surge by 14% — which is surprisingly more than needed to cover lost US trade.

Carney has was in China this week pushing for “a new world order” and pursuing more trade with China, not the detachment some US administration officials are seeking.

“It’s China against the world,” the Trump administration tried to convince the rest of the world just three months ago.

Carney demonstrates this approach, something that is perhaps a unique background context for today’s intervention time.

If, however, we take Trump’s latest threats seriously, they are even more troubling.

Not so much because of the 10% tariff, but because of its rationale – taking land from an ally, and the act of publicly trying to pressure your allies. How would the world react if China or Russia sent this kind of threat to some of their allies?

The basis of the threat is clearly very worrying.

Many in capitals around the world will read Trump’s social media announcement and question the American decision-making process.

President Trump arrived to meet with leaders of allied countries whose economies he recently threatened at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday.

Most of the world will hope that, by then, this unprecedented threat will be gone.