Denmark has classified the United States as a potential security threat for the first time, according to an annual report released by one of its intelligence agencies, offering further evidence of an increasingly tense Atlantic alliance between Europe and the US.
The report, compiled by the Danish Defense Intelligence Service (DDIS), warns that the US “uses economic power, including threats of high tariffs, to impose its will and no longer rules out the use of military force, even against allies.”
This assessment is part of a broader analysis of the service, according to which “great powers increasingly prioritize their own interests and use force to achieve their objectives.”
CNN has contacted the US Embassy in Copenhagen and the Office of the Chief National Information Officer in Washington DC for comment.
In addition to the warning regarding the US, the report focuses mainly on the strategic threats posed by Russia and China, as well as the instability caused by the rise of China and the resulting global shift in the balance of power.
The report highlights that “Russia’s military threat to NATO will increase”, an increased concern for the Danes, as “there is uncertainty about the role of the United States as a guarantor of Europe’s security”.
Denmark’s normally friendly relationship with its NATO ally became strained earlier this year when US President Donald Trump expressed interest in taking over an autonomous, resource-rich and strategically important island in the Arctic that is legally part of the Danish kingdom.
While Trump has not addressed the idea again in months, she has signaled her willingness to emphasize the U.S. relationship with its European partners after decades of close cooperation since the end of World War II.
That relationship is again under scrutiny as the different strategic priorities of the U.S. and Europe have been exposed in recent peace talks in Ukraine and, more dramatically, in the national security strategy released Friday by the Trump administration, which has adopted an unprecedentedly confrontational stance toward Europe.
And for Denmark, the threats posed by Russia and the US are intertwined. The report argues that “Russia will try to exploit the US desire for a quick end to the war (in Ukraine) to sow division between the US and Europe.”
