Pedro Sanchez urged European leaders to look towards Canada instead of the US during one of NATO’s most turbulent moments, it has been claimed.
It comes after details from a secret emergency summit were obtained by the Wall Street Journal.
The US publication said the Spanish prime minister encouraged fellow leaders to follow the lead of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney as confidence in Washington collapsed.
It followed threats by President Donald Trump to seize Greenland.
‘Canada is openly saying what we should do,’ Sanchez reportedly told fellow leaders during the closed-door emergency meeting in Brussels on January 22.
He was referring to remarks Carney had made just two days earlier at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where the Canadian leader warned: ‘Obedience does not buy security.’
The summit, held at NATO headquarters after world leaders travelled from Davos to Brussels, reportedly took place without advisers or mobile phones.
It was described by some participants as an intense ‘late-night therapy session’ focused on how Europe should respond to an increasingly unpredictable White House.
The meeting came after Trump declared the US would acquire Greenland ‘one way or another’ following the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro earlier that month.
At Davos, Carney warned fellow leaders that ‘the old global order will not return’ and argued that countries which failed to take part in shaping the future risked ‘becoming the main course’ rather than sitting at the negotiating table.
His message resonated with Sanchez, who has consistently resisted US pressure for major increases in defence spending.
However, Carney simultaneously reaffirmed Canada’s ‘unwavering support’ for NATO’s collective defence and pledged to double Canadian military spending by 2030.
According to the Wall Street Journal, French President Emmanuel Macron opened the emergency summit by declaring: ‘Today we are drawing a line. There is no going back.’
Macron argued Europe had become dangerously dependent on the US for its security and reportedly ordered a symbolic military deployment to Greenland alongside troops from Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK to demonstrate that any attempt by Washington to seize the territory would come at a cost.
Several leaders reportedly described Europe as being at risk of becoming a ‘miserable slave’ to the US, while Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni initially urged colleagues not to overreact, insisting Trump remained open to negotiation.
According to the report, that view later shifted as relations with Washington deteriorated further.
Behind the scenes, European governments have increasingly discussed replacing US-made weapons systems and reducing dependence on American defence technology, although officials acknowledge such a transition would take years.
The report suggests Canada has played an increasingly influential role in shaping Europe’s thinking.
Initially, Carney’s tougher approach reportedly found support only from Macron, but Sanchez later emerged as one of the European leaders most receptive to his argument that attempting to appease Trump would ultimately prove futile.
The revelations also cast fresh light on Spain’s increasingly isolated position within NATO.
