Nuuk (Greenland): President Donald Trump, on Wednesday, said that NATO should help the US acquire Greenland and anything less than American control is unacceptable, hours before Vice President J D Vance was to host Danish and Greenlandic officials for talks.
In a post on his social media site, Trump reiterated his argument that the US “needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security.” He added that “NATO should be leading the way for us to get it” and that otherwise Russia or China would — “AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!”
“NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES,” Trump wrote. “Anything less than that is unacceptable.”
Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, is at the centre of a geopolitical storm as Trump insists he wants to own it — and residents of its capital, Nuuk, say it isn’t for sale. The White House hasn’t ruled out taking the Arctic island by force. Vance is to meet Denmark’s foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt in Washington later Wednesday to discuss Greenland.
Along the narrow, snow-covered main street in Nuuk, international journalists and camera crews have been stopping passersby every few metres asking them for their thoughts on a crisis which Denmark’s prime minister has warned could potentially trigger the end 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.”
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen told a news conference in Copenhagen on Tuesday that “if we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark. We choose NATO. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU.”
Asked later Tuesday about Nielsen’s comments, Trump replied: “I disagree with him. I don’t know who he is. I don’t know anything about him. But, that’s going to be a big problem for him.”
Greenland is strategically important because, as climate change causes the ice to melt, it opens up the possibility of shorter trade routes to Asia. That also could make it easier to extract and transport untapped deposits of critical minerals which are needed for computers and phones.
Trump said in Wednesday’s post that Greenland is “vital” to the United States’ Golden Dome missile defence programme. 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 control it.
But both experts and Greenlanders question that claim.
“The only Chinese I see is when I go to the fast food market,” heating engineer Lars Vintner said. He said he frequently goes sailing and hunting and has never seen Russian or Chinese ships.
His friend, Hans Norgaard, agreed, adding “what has come out of the mouth of Donald Trump about all these ships is just fantasy.”
Denmark has said the US – which already has a military presence- can boost its bases on Greenland. For that reason, “security is just a cover,” Vintner said, suggesting Trump actually wants to own the island to make money from its untapped natural resources.
Norgaard said he filed a police complaint in Nuuk against Trump’s “aggressive” behaviour because, he said, American officials are threatening the people of Greenland and NATO.
Mikaelsen, the student, said Greenlanders benefit from being part of Denmark, which provides free health care, education and payments during study, and “I don’t want the US to take that away from us.”
Following the White House meeting, Lokke Rasmussen and Motzfeldt, along with Denmark’s ambassador to the US, are due to meet with senators from the Arctic Caucus in the US Congress.
Two lawmakers – Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, and Senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican – have introduced bipartisan legislation that would prohibit the use of funds from the US Defence 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 is also heading to Copenhagen at the end of the week to meet with Danish and Greenlandic officials.
Last week, Denmark’s major European allies joined Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in issuing a statement declaring that Greenland belongs to its people and that “it is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”
On Wednesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told RTL radio that his country plans to open a consulate in Greenland on February 6, following a decision last summer to open the diplomatic outpost.
“Attacking another NATO member would make no sense; it would even be contrary to the interests of the United States. And I’m hearing more and more voices in the United States saying this,” Barrot said. “So this blackmail must obviously stop.”
