U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that NATO should help the U.S. acquire Greenland and anything lower than American control is unacceptable, hours before Vice President JD Vance was to host Danish and Greenlandic officials for talks.
In a post on his social media site, Trump reiterated his argument that the U.S. “needs Greenland for the aim of National Security.” He added that “NATO ought to be leading the best way for us to get it” and that otherwise Russia or China would — “AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!”
“NATO becomes way more formidable and effective with Greenland within the hands of the UNITED STATES,” Trump wrote. “Anything lower than that’s unacceptable.”
Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, is at the middle of a geopolitical storm as Trump insists he desires to own it — and residents of its capital, Nuuk, say it isn’t on the market. The White House hasn’t ruled out taking the Arctic island by force.
Denmark and Greenland said on Wednesday they’d begun to extend their military presence in and around Greenland in close cooperation with allies, as a part of their promise to beef up Arctic defense.
The announcement comes as Denmark’s and Greenland’s foreign ministers are set to meet with Vance after weeks of threats by President Donald Trump to take control of the island, an autonomous territory of Denmark.
Vance is to fulfill Denmark’s foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt in Washington later Wednesday to debate Greenland.
Greenlanders want US to back off
Along the narrow, snow-covered major street in Nuuk, international journalists and camera crews have been stopping passersby every few metres asking them for his or her thoughts on a crisis which Denmark’s prime minister has warned could potentially trigger the top of NATO.
Tuuta Mikaelsen, a 22-year-old student, told The Associated Press in Nuuk that she hoped American officials would get the message to “back off.”
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Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen told a news conference in Copenhagen on Tuesday that “if we now have to make a choice from the USA and Denmark here and now, we decide Denmark. We decide NATO. We decide the Kingdom of Denmark. We decide the EU.”
Asked later Tuesday about Nielsen’s comments, Trump replied: “I disagree with him. I don’t know who he’s. I don’t know anything about him. But, that’s going to be an enormous problem for him.”
Greenland is strategically vital because, as climate change causes the ice to melt, it opens up the potential for shorter trade routes to Asia. That also could make it easier to extract and transport untapped deposits of critical minerals that are needed for computers and phones.
Trump said in Wednesday’s post that Greenland is “vital” to the USA’ Golden Dome missile defence program. He also has said he wants the island to expand America’s security and has cited what he says is the threat from Russian and Chinese ships as a reason to manage it.
But each experts and Greenlanders query that claim.
“The one Chinese I see is when I am going to the fast-food market,” heating engineer Lars Vintner said. He said he incessantly goes sailing and hunting and has never seen Russian or Chinese ships.
His friend, Hans Nørgaard, agreed, adding “what has come out of the mouth of Donald Trump about all these ships is just fantasy.”
Denmark has said the U.S. — which already has a military presence — can boost its bases on Greenland. For that reason, “security is just a canopy,” Vintner said, suggesting Trump actually desires to own the island to generate income from its untapped natural resources.
Nørgaard said he filed a police grievance in Nuuk against Trump’s “aggressive” behaviour because, he said, American officials are threatening the people of Greenland and NATO.
Mikaelsen, the coed, said Greenlanders profit from being a part of Denmark, which provides free health care, education and payments during study, and “I don’t want the U.S. to take that away from us.”
Following the White House meeting, Løkke Rasmussen and Motzfeldt, together with Denmark’s ambassador to the U.S., are resulting from meet with senators from the Arctic Caucus within the U.S. Congress.
Two lawmakers — Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Latest Hampshire Democrat, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican — have introduced bipartisan laws that might prohibit using funds from the U.S. Defense or State departments to annex or take control of Greenland or the sovereign territory of any NATO member state without that ally’s consent or authorization from the North Atlantic Council.
A bipartisan delegation of lawmakers can be heading to Copenhagen at the top of the week to fulfill with Danish and Greenlandic officials.
Last week, Denmark’s major European allies joined Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in issuing a press release declaring that Greenland belongs to its people and that “it’s for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to determine on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”
On Wednesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told RTL radio that his country plans to open a consulate in Greenland on Feb. 6, following a call last summer to open the diplomatic outpost.
“Attacking one other NATO member would make no sense; it could even be contrary to the interests of the USA. And I’m hearing increasingly voices in the USA saying this,” Barrot said. “So this blackmail must obviously stop.”
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