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Gordon Brown: As Trump menaces Greenland, this much is clear: the free world needs a new plan - and inspired leadership
...
We have arrived at a moment of truth for Europe. For too long, its voice has been silent as the Trump administration has violated internationally agreed trade rules; savagely slashed international development aid; and threatened Canadian, Panamanian and Mexican neighbours. This month, Trump’s US is walking out of 66 international organisations, most of which the US itself had created, while at the same time making the momentous decision to constitute an alternative, a “board of peace”, with a remit for interventions far beyond Gaza, and with membership offered to about 60 favoured states, including Russia.
But no global initiative can hope to command wide support or be seen as legitimate if it is merely elites agreeing how to balance their power. And any new charter has to make the connection between meeting local needs and aspirations and the global cooperation that can bring this about. We need to reaffirm for a new generation the need for equality of opportunity and fairness of outcomes, and for what Roosevelt called the four freedoms – of speech and worship, from want and from fear.
Years from now the history books will tell us that Trump could have declared a quick victory in negotiations over Greenland – accepting the Danish offer of virtually unlimited military bases and access to Greenland’s 25 critical minerals. But, to quote the Danish foreign minister after his Washington talks: “It’s clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland.” With that Trump has truly signalled the end of the era when people in every continent saw the US as “a shining city on the hill”.
That does not mean the US cannot lead again. In his 1961 inaugural address, President John F Kennedy said we must build “a new world of law where the strong are just and the weak are secure and the peace preserved”. That is a path the US, and the world, must walk again.
We have arrived at a moment of truth for Europe. For too long, its voice has been silent as the Trump administration has violated internationally agreed trade rules; savagely slashed international development aid; and threatened Canadian, Panamanian and Mexican neighbours. This month, Trump’s US is walking out of 66 international organisations, most of which the US itself had created, while at the same time making the momentous decision to constitute an alternative, a “board of peace”, with a remit for interventions far beyond Gaza, and with membership offered to about 60 favoured states, including Russia.
But no global initiative can hope to command wide support or be seen as legitimate if it is merely elites agreeing how to balance their power. And any new charter has to make the connection between meeting local needs and aspirations and the global cooperation that can bring this about. We need to reaffirm for a new generation the need for equality of opportunity and fairness of outcomes, and for what Roosevelt called the four freedoms – of speech and worship, from want and from fear.
Years from now the history books will tell us that Trump could have declared a quick victory in negotiations over Greenland – accepting the Danish offer of virtually unlimited military bases and access to Greenland’s 25 critical minerals. But, to quote the Danish foreign minister after his Washington talks: “It’s clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland.” With that Trump has truly signalled the end of the era when people in every continent saw the US as “a shining city on the hill”.
That does not mean the US cannot lead again. In his 1961 inaugural address, President John F Kennedy said we must build “a new world of law where the strong are just and the weak are secure and the peace preserved”. That is a path the US, and the world, must walk again.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/20/donald-trump-greenland-world-plan-leadership