Project Syndicate - Britain Must Lead the Pushback Against Trump - Jan 19, 2026 William R. Rhodes and Stuart P.M. Mackintosh

 Project Syndicate

Britain Must Lead the Pushback Against Trump

Jan 19, 2026

William R. Rhodes

 and 

Stuart P.M. Mackintosh

To ensure that Greenland remains a territory of Denmark, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other European leaders must put pressure on NATO’s most powerful member. Given the US president’s love of royalty, one way to do that would be to organize a public meeting between British King Charles III and Danish King Frederik X.

NEWCASTLE/WASHINGTON, DC – US President Donald Trump’s pursuit of a new American empire suggests that NATO’s resilience may face its greatest test in 2026. In the last few weeks alone, the Trump administration has captured and extracted Nicolás Maduro from Venezuela and threatened to annex Greenland by force. This international adventurism has made the neocolonial “Donroe Doctrine” – a grossly distorted version of the Monroe Doctrine asserting US dominance over the Western Hemisphere – a deadly reality.

Trump’s unilateral actions have heightened geopolitical and economic uncertainty, and European leaders, especially British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, must mount a robust defense of NATO and increase collective pressure on the United States. Absent that, an emboldened Trump may take Greenland and any other territory or resources he covets, regardless of the consequences for the alliance and the global economy.

Starmer’s role is pivotal. Among the leaders of NATO countries with the most effective military capabilities, he is the closest to Trump, who has an affinity for the United Kingdom. He is also the strongest politically, given the Labour Party’s sizable parliamentary majority. Contrast that with French President Emmanuel Macron, whose position and influence have been weakened by a hung parliament, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who leads a coalition government in a country with limited military might and an economy that is stagnating.

Moreover, the UK played a historic role in the creation of NATO and has deep historic ties with Venezuela (British mercenaries supported the 19th-century Venezuelan War of Independence). As a result, Starmer has an imperative to advocate economic and political stability in Venezuela and to defend NATO and Greenland, a territory of NATO ally Denmark, against White House machinations.

The stakes are high. Trump and his minions, such as White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, have repeatedly threatened Denmark and made it clear that the Donroe Doctrine applies to any “outside influence” – even by fellow NATO members – in the Americas. To counter such bluster, Starmer must be more forceful in his public and private discussions with Trump. The low-key, lawyerly demeanor he tends to adopt, no matter how pressing the issue, will accomplish little.

The world is watching to see if the UK and other NATO members push back against the Trump administration’s threats to Greenland. Starmer and other NATO leaders must recognize this and be more visible in their efforts to rally congressional Republicans – many of them long-time supporters of the alliance – to their cause. It is heartening that five Republicans voted with the Democrats in the US Senate to pass a war powers resolution that would have limited Trump’s power to wage war in Venezuela. While that draft legislation never stood a chance of passing, Trump now knows that taking unilateral action against a NATO ally could cause Republican defections.

Unless the US achieves some degree of foreign-policy stability, the world will enter a period of great-power conflict, with potentially catastrophic consequences. Russian President Vladimir Putin might be emboldened to take more than 20% of Ukraine’s territory and extend his sphere of influence to NATO’s Baltic members (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania), jeopardizing European security for years to come.

That is hardly a far-fetched scenario. During Trump’s first term, Putin offered him Venezuela in exchange for free rein in Ukraine. Chinese President Xi Jinping, for his part, could attack Taiwan and exert pressure on US allies like Japan and the Philippines.

To avert this geopolitical crisis, Starmer and other European leaders must reinforce NATO’s norms and stress the alliance’s importance now, while they still have a chance of influencing Trump. One way to make a strong impression on Trump, who loves royalty and all its trappings, would be for British King Charles III to meet and publicly embrace Danish King Frederik X. Such a summit would demonstrate to Trump that coveting Greenland may have social repercussions – staying in King Charles III’s good graces could be sufficient incentive for a US president whose decisions are dictated largely by ego and appearances.

Nothing about this will be easy. Starmer and his European allies must brace themselves for a challenging road ahead, as defending NATO against its most powerful member will require a combination of force and guile. Trump recently proclaimed that his power is not limited by laws and treaties, but only by his “own morality.” That should be enough to spur Europe to act now – with the UK in the lead – before it is confronted with another rash decision.

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William R. Rhodes

Writing for PS since 2021

9 Commentaries

William R. Rhodes, a former CEO of Citibank, is is President and CEO of William R. Rhodes Global Advisors and the author of Banker to the World: Leadership Lessons From the Front Lines of Global Finance (McGraw Hill, 2011).

Stuart P.M. Mackintosh

Writing for PS since 2021

11 Commentaries

Stuart P.M. Mackintosh is Executive Director of the Group of Thirty.