The US congressional delegation wants to confirm Denmark, Greenland after Trump’s threats
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The American Congress team that met on Saturday wanted to assure Denmark and Greenland of their support following President Donald Trump’s threat to punish the countries with tariffs if they do not support the US in taking over the Arctic island.
The leader of the team, Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, said the rhetoric surrounding Greenland is causing concern throughout the Danish kingdom, and he wants to ease the situation.
“I hope that the people of the Kingdom of Denmark do not lose their faith in the American people,” Coons said in Copenhagen, adding that the US respects Denmark and NATO “for everything we have done together.”
Coons held a news conference Saturday ahead of rallies planned in Copenhagen and Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, in support of the self-governing island.
Thousands of protesters gathered across Denmark in solidarity with Greenland, demanding that the United States respect the Greenlanders’ right to self-determination.
Although joint military exercises in Greenland are unusual, this week’s decision by NATO allies to send troops to support Denmark is a message to US President Donald Trump to ‘change his risk calculations,’ said former Canadian ambassador to NATO Kerry Buck. The rift within NATO offers a ‘big gift’ to Russian President Vladimir Putin, says Buck.
Coons’ comments were compared to those from the White House. Trump has sought to justify his calls for US intervention by repeatedly claiming that China and Russia have their own designs on Greenland, which holds vast amounts of untapped minerals.
The White House has not ruled out taking the area by force, but Coons said, “There are no security threats in Greenland.”
Trump has insisted for months that the US should take control of Greenland, a territory of NATO ally Denmark, and said earlier this week that anything less than the Arctic island being in US hands “will not be acceptable.”
During an unrelated event at the White House on rural health care on Friday, the president recounted how he threatened European allies with a drug tax.
“I can do that for Greenland too,” he said. “I might impose taxes on countries if they don’t agree with Greenland, because we need Greenland to protect the country. So I can do that.”
Trump has never talked about using tariffs to try to force the issue.
CBC News political reporter Rosemary Barton asked the National’s At Issue panel about US President Donald Trump’s threats to annex Greenland and how Canada should respond.
Earlier this week, the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met in Washington with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
That meeting did not resolve deep disagreements but produced an agreement to establish a working group – Denmark and the White House then offered very different public views.
European leaders have emphasized that only Denmark and Greenland can decide on matters affecting the area, and Denmark said this week that it is increasing its military presence in Greenland in cooperation with its allies.
“There is probably no better partner in the United States than Denmark,” Coons said. “If we do things that make the Danes wonder if we can count as NATO allies, why would another country want to be our partner or believe in our actions?”
