NEW SPHERES OF INFLUENCE

T MAY be hard to believe but Donald Trump has been in office less than a year yet his actions in the first days of 2026 have stunned foreign capitals worldwide, with enemies and allies racing to recalibrate expectations for the remainder of his term.

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That, of course, was almost certainly part of the intent: the lightning US military raid on Venezuela and seizure of president Nicolas Maduro was intended not just to abruptly reset relations with that nation. The following days have seen a flurry of presidential comments warning other nations most specifically Colombia and Cuba.

Particularly alarming for Europe in general and Denmark in particular is the stepping up of rhetoric over US interest in Greenland by Trump and those he surrounds himself with effectively threatening the seizure of territory administered by a European NATO ally.

Trump has also threatened military action on Nigeria and Iran, the former over alleged atrocities against Christians and the latter over a tough crackdown on protests.

The Trump administration’s moves were initially signalled at the start of December in a new national security strategy that also tore up decades of diplomatic norms by pledging to work with Right-wing parties to bring them to power in Europe.

Even more outrageous particularly in the eyes of more traditional foreign and US diplomats has been the explicit tying together of business, mineral, energy and real-estate interests to almost all US-linked negotiations, including potential peace deals in war-torn regions such as Gaza and Ukraine.

It feels an age since the NATO summit in June, when multiple alliance leaders praised Trump for his strength in launching US airstrikes on Iran hoping his willingness to use military force would be repeated if longstanding US allies were attacked.

There are plenty of indications that this remains the case. US-coordinated global military drills from the Arctic to the Pacific have put the US military at the heart of defending Europe against Russia, or confronting China in the aftermath of an invasion of Taiwan.