The leaders of Denmark and Greenland urged Trump to end threats to take over Greenland
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The leaders of Denmark and Greenland on Sunday urged US President Donald Trump to stop threatening to take over Greenland, after he reiterated his desire to do so in an interview with The Atlantic magazine.
“It makes absolutely no sense to talk about the US needing to take over Greenland. The US has no right to take over any of the three countries in the Kingdom of Denmark,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement on Sunday.
Trump told the magazine: “We need Greenland, absolutely. We need it for our own defense.”
He spoke a day after the US arrested Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and the president said Washington would run the Latin American country.
This raised concerns in Denmark that the same could happen to Greenland, a Danish territory.
Frederiksen said: “So I would strongly urge the US to stop threats against a close partner in history and another country and other people, who clearly say that they are not for sale.”
The prime minister of Greenland, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, in a statement, also said on Sunday: “When the President of the United States says ‘we need Greenland’ and links us to Venezuela with military intervention, it is not just a mistake. It is contempt.”
As the US threatens to take over the Arctic island, Foreign Minister Anita Anand said she shared the government’s full support for the sovereignty of Greenland in a conversation with the Danish foreign minister.
Trump on December 21 named Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry as a special envoy to Greenland, receiving new criticism from Denmark and Greenland because of Washington’s interest in the mineral-rich Arctic island.
Trump has advocated that Greenland, a sovereign territory of Denmark, become part of the United States. Landry publicly supports the idea.
On Saturday, political consultant Katie Miller, whose husband Stephen works as White House deputy chief of staff for policy and national security adviser, sent a map of Greenland colored with the American flag on the X. The image appeared along with one word: “SOON.”
The Arctic island’s strategic location between Europe and North America makes it a key hub for the US missile defense system, while its mineral wealth is attractive as the US hopes to reduce its reliance on Chinese imports.
Greenland, a former Danish colony, has the right to declare independence under a 2009 treaty but is heavily dependent on Danish subsidies.
Denmark sought to mend strained relations with Greenland last year, while trying to ease tensions with the Trump administration by investing in Arctic defense.
