US President Donald Trump told NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte that US control of Greenland was necessary for international security.
During talks with Rutte at the White House on Thursday, Trump again stressed the strategic importance of the Arctic island.
Asked by a reporter about plans for a possible annexation, Trump said, “Well, I think it will happen.”
Referring to Rutte, Trump mentioned that he hadn’t given it much thought to it before but now was sitting someone who could be instrumental in helping the US annex Greenland.
“You know, Mark, we need that for international security, not just security — international — we have a lot of our favorite players cruising around the coast, and we have to be careful,” Trump told Rutte. “We’ll be talking to you.”
Rutte said he wanted to stay out of the debate on whether the island should become part of the United States and didn’t want to “drag NATO into that.”
Control over Greenland would increase US influence in the resource-rich Arctic region, where Russia and China have been building their presence.
What does Greenland say about Trump’s proposal?
Trump’s comments drew a swift rejection from Greenland’s outgoing prime minister.
“The US president has once again aired the thought of annexing us,” Mute Egede said in a Facebook post on Thursday. “Enough is enough.”
Egede said he would seek to convene a meeting of party leaders to jointly reject Trump’s vow to take over Greenland, home to nearly 57,000 people.
Jens-Frederik Nielsen, the leader of the island’s pro-business Demokraatit party, which won Greenland’s parliamentary election on Tuesday, also rejected the comments.
“Trump’s statement from the US is inappropriate and just shows once again that we must stand together in such situations,” Nielsen wrote on Facebook.
Greenland officially belongs to the kingdom of Denmark but in 2009 gained self-rule over most of its internal affairs.
The island remains financially heavily dependent on Denmark, and foreign affairs and defense are run by the government in Denmark.
According to polls, most Greenlanders support independence from Denmark but not annexation by the United States.
Edited by: Sean Sinico
