French President Emmanuel Macron was prepared for the possibility of a âshooting warâ with the United States earlier this year, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
The Journal reported this week that Macron reached that position after American forces carried out a precision strike in Venezuela that led to the arrest of former dictator Nicolas Maduro. The episode reportedly sharpened fears among European leaders that President Donald Trump was willing to use American power in ways that could directly affect their own interests.
Macronâs reported comments centered on Greenland, the sparsely populated Danish territory that has become increasingly important because of its location in the North Atlantic and the Arctic. The island is seen as strategically valuable, especially as Western countries look for ways to keep non-NATO powers from gaining influence in the region.
Trump has repeatedly expressed interest in acquiring Greenland for the United States. According to the Journal, that interest, combined with the successful operation against Maduro, led Macron to take seriously the possibility that Washington might move aggressively toward the island.
In a report with multiple authors, the Journal described a late-night emergency meeting in Brussels where European leaders gathered to discuss how to respond to a changing relationship with the United States.
âIt was almost midnight in Brussels, and the leaders of Europe were locked in their fifth hour of an emergency meeting with a single theme for discussion: how to manage a breakup with America,â the Journal reported.
The meeting took place only three weeks into the new year. According to the report, Trump had recently removed Venezuelaâs autocratic strongman and had briefly threatened to seize Greenland from Denmark. Around a circular table in the European Council headquarters, a room known as âThe Space Egg,â European heads of government reportedly spoke so emotionally about Trump that some later described the gathering as âtherapy night.â
No phones or recording devices were allowed in the room. During the meeting, Macron reportedly told the other leaders, âWe are drawing a line here.â
The Journal also reported that French soldiers were in Greenland alongside Danish special forces, prepared for the possibility of armed conflict with the United States. Macron used the meeting to repeat an argument he has made for years: Europeâs dependence on America is a serious security risk.
âThere is no going back,â Macron reportedly said.
Other European leaders at the meeting were also said to be frustrated with the Trump administrationâs approach. For decades, many European governments had grown accustomed to the United States carrying much of the burden for the continentâs defense and strategic interests. Under Trump, however, American diplomats were reportedly pressing for compensation, stronger trade-offs, and arrangements they considered fairer to Washington.
That shift irritated many of the leaders in the room, according to the report.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was not at the meeting, but he was reportedly in contact with several European leaders by phone. The Journal said Carney had been using a British phone number from his time in London to message major European leaders and urge them to accept that âthe old America isnât coming back.â
In the months since the meeting, according to the Journal, some European governments have encouraged one another to reduce their reliance on American technology and services.
The paper reported that officials in countries including France and the Netherlands have quietly begun removing American technology from government systems, shifting toward European open-source software, and urging civil servants to stop using Microsoft Teams and Office. At the same time, European governments are reportedly investing hundreds of billions of dollars into domestic space companies, artificial intelligence firms, and data centers in an effort to rely less on major U.S. technology companies.