WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump reiterated on Wednesday (Jan 14) that the US wants Greenland and that Denmark can’t be relied upon to guard the island, whilst he mentioned that “one thing will work out” with respect to the long run governance of the Danish abroad territory.
The remarks, which got here after a high-stakes assembly between US, Danish and Greenlandic officers, point out that there are nonetheless basic, if not intractable, variations between how Washington, Copenhagen and Nuuk see the political way forward for the island.
“Greenland is essential for the nationwide safety, together with of Denmark,” Trump advised reporters within the Oval Workplace. “And the issue is there’s not a factor that Denmark can do about it if Russia or China needs to occupy Greenland, however there’s all the pieces we are able to do. You discovered that out final week with Venezuela,” he added.
Earlier within the day, the international ministers of Denmark and Greenland met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance on the White Home.
Following that assembly, Danish Overseas Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt mentioned the US and Denmark would kind a working group to debate a broad array of issues relating to the island that would meet within the coming weeks.
However in addition they made clear that Washington had not budged on its place that it should purchase Greenland, an final result Rasmussen and Motzfeldt described as an unacceptable breach of sovereignty.
“We did not handle to alter the American place,” Rasmussen advised reporters outdoors the Danish embassy in Washington after the assembly concluded.
“It is clear that the president has this want of conquering over Greenland.”
Rasmussen added that a US takeover of Greenland was “completely not obligatory”.
“We subsequently nonetheless have a basic disagreement, however we additionally comply with disagree.”
He mentioned the difficulty was “very emotional” for the individuals of Greenland and Denmark, a steadfast US ally whose troops died alongside Individuals in Afghanistan and, controversially, Iraq.
“Concepts that may not respect territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark and the suitable of self-determination of the Greenlandic persons are, in fact, completely unacceptable,” Rasmussen added.
“NOT FOR SALE”
Earlier than the assembly, which lasted round two hours, Trump argued on social media that NATO would turn out to be much more formidable and efficient with Greenland within the palms of the US “Something lower than that’s unacceptable,” he wrote.
In latest weeks, he has incessantly repeated longstanding claims that buying Greenland is a nationwide safety crucial, and that Denmark shouldn’t be able to avoiding Russian and Chinese language affect within the Arctic area.
Greenland and Denmark say the island shouldn’t be on the market, and that threats of drive are reckless and safety issues ought to be resolved amongst allies. Distinguished EU international locations have backed Denmark, which is a member of the NATO alliance.
Forward of the assembly, Greenland and Denmark mentioned that they had begun to extend their navy presence in and round Greenland in shut cooperation with NATO allies, as a part of their promise to beef up Arctic defence.
The elevated navy presence would come with a spread of train actions all through 2026, in line with the Danish defence ministry.
Throughout the press convention, Rasmussen and Motzfeldt known as the assembly respectful and emphasised that Denmark shared US issues about Arctic safety. However they firmly rejected the concept of the island turning into American.
Whereas Trump has at occasions portrayed the island as besieged by Russian and Chinese language ships, Rasmussen rejected that characterisation on Wednesday, saying “it’s not a real narrative that we now have Chinese language warships throughout the place.”
