DAVOS, Switzerland/COPENHAGEN/NUUK, Jan 22 (Reuters) - NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Thursday that Western allies will need to step up their presence in the Arctic under a framework deal with the U.S., a day after President Donald Trump walked back threats to use tariffs or seize Greenland by force.
Rutte told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos that it was now up to NATO commanders to work through the details of extra security requirements and that he was sure non-Arctic NATO allies would want to contribute to the effort.
"We will come together in NATO with our senior commanders to work out what is necessary," Rutte said.
"I have no doubt we can do this quite fast. Certainly I would hope for 2026, I hope even early in 2026," he said.
Trump's ambition to wrest sovereignty over Greenland from fellow NATO member Denmark has threatened to blow apart the alliance that underpinned Western security since the end of World War Two, and reignite a trade war with Europe.
After weeks of threats, Trump on Wednesday stepped back from the threat of imposing tariffs on countries opposing his plans and ruled out using force, suggesting instead that a framework deal over the Arctic island was in sight.
(Reporting by Mark John, Steve Holland, Trevor Hunnicutt, Alessandro Parodi, Benoit Van Overstraeten, Stine Jacobsen, Markus Wacket, Sarah Marsh, Madeline Chambers; writing by Matthias Williams; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
