London | France has gone on the front foot against incoming US president Donald Trump and his billionaire backer Elon Musk, urging the European Union to protect the Continent’s sovereign borders and to push back against foreign political interference.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the 27-country EU would never allow other nations, “whoever they are”, to attack its territory – a clear response to Trump’s intimation a day earlier that he could use force to seize the coveted Danish territory of Greenland.