At the World Economic Forum in Davos, President Trump announced a framework for a future deal on Greenland tied explicitly to Arctic security and pushed back on plans to impose tariffs while negotiations continue. That pause in punitive trade action came after talks with NATO leadership and signals a new, muscular American approach to protecting strategic territory and resources.
Former U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss publicly praised Mr. Trump’s framework and went even further, arguing that Europe is falling behind on genuine defense and sovereignty commitments and openly criticizing the U.N.’s outsized influence on such decisions. Her blunt assessment — that the old international institutions too often handcuff sovereign action — should resonate with Americans tired of global bureaucrats putting politics over security.
Truss’s call to dismantle the United Nations may sound shocking to the mandarins in Geneva and New York, but it is a necessary provocation. We cannot keep asking a papered-over bureaucracy to solve hard strategic choices while enemies exploit its weaknesses, and conservative patriots should welcome leaders who name the problem rather than kowtow to it.
What’s playing out in the Arctic is classic pressure diplomacy: the President used leverage — even the specter of tariffs — to force European partners to finally step up for collective security, and he walked away from immediate punishment when a framework was in sight. That practical, results-oriented bargaining with NATO officials produced a temporary de-escalation and the promise of concrete cooperation, which is precisely the kind of firm leadership the West has lacked for years.
Of course, critics and some Greenlandic lawmakers insist NATO has no mandate to negotiate sovereignty, and they warn against any backroom deals that ignore local rights. Those objections deserve respect, but they also expose a wider paralysis in Europe that allows Moscow and Beijing to creep into strategic zones while Western elites debate virtue signaling and process.
Americans should be unapologetic about defending the homeland and securing the Arctic’s immense strategic value — from mineral resources to military advantage. If tearing down obsolete global institutions and rebuilding alliances around capability and American resolve is what it takes, then conservatives should lead that charge with pride and clarity.
This isn’t about expansionism; it’s about realism and protecting the next generation of Americans from threats our predecessors ignored. Hardworking citizens expect their leaders to secure critical territory, deny adversaries footholds, and ensure that international bodies do not hamstring decisive action.
Congress and patriots must now demand transparency in negotiations, insist on military-first guarantees where necessary, and refuse to let feckless European bureaucrats or U.N. committees dictate America’s security posture. Backing bold, unapologetic leadership that prioritizes the nation’s safety over hollow multilateral pageantry is the conservative duty of the hour.
