Donald Trump has threatened to tug all American troops out of Europe as he again berated Nato allies over their opposition to his ambition to annex Greenland.
The president renewed his criticism and claim to the semi-autonomous Danish territory at first of a vital NATO summit this week.
He argued that the US must take over the mineral-rich Arctic island on national security grounds.
Sir Keir Starmer has previously joined with other European leaders to rally behind fellow Nato member Denmark and demand they might ‘not stop defending’ Greenland’s territorial integrity, fuelling transatlantic tensions.
Responding to an issue on the dispute on the meeting in Ankara, Trump said: ‘That’s what hurt my relationship with Nato, because Greenland doesn’t help Denmark.
‘Denmark doesn’t spend money to essentially help Greenland, nevertheless it’s a vital part for the USA, and it’s surrounded by Chinese ships and Russian ships, and that’s not going to occur.’
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Trump, whose claims of foreign threats to the self-governing island have been challenged, argued it ‘must be controlled by the USA, not by Denmark’.
He added: ‘Europe’s a really different place than it was 20 years ago, lots different, much different, much different, they usually higher watch out with immigration and energy.
‘In the event that they’re not careful with those two things, you’re not going to have a Europe anymore.’
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: ‘The long run of Greenland is as much as the people of Greenland and of Denmark, and less than the US president.
‘I’ve been very clear about that ever because it was first suggested.’
Greenland has been just certainly one of the flashpoints in fraught relations between the US and its Nato partners.
Trump recently launched a fresh onslaught on allies’ defence budgets, claiming Washington was bankrolling other countries ‘without getting any profit’.
It got here after US defence secretary Pete Hegseth announced a review of American military forces in Europe as he questioned if some members were meeting their spending commitments.
Tensions had also been inflamed over what Trump viewed as an absence of support by countries for his war against Iran.
It has led the president to forged doubt on America’s commitment to the long-standing Nato alliance, which he has branded ‘a paper tiger’.
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