Key points
- Trump has ramped up his claims to Greenland
- Danish government ministers condemned Trump’s remarks
- Vance is due to visit to Greenland on Friday
ISLAMABAD: US President Donald Trump ramped up his claims to Greenland on Wednesday, saying ahead of a visit by Vice President JD Vance that the United States needed to take control of the Danish island for “international security.”
According to AFP, since coming to the White House in January, Trump has repeatedly insisted that he wants the self-governed territory to be in Washington’s grip, refusing to rule out the use of force to do so.
“We need Greenland for international safety and security. We need it. We have to have it,” Trump told podcaster Vince Coglianese.
Untapped mineral reserves
Greenland, which is seeking independence from Denmark, holds massive untapped mineral and oil reserves, though oil and uranium exploration are banned, Western media reported.
Asked if he thought Greenlanders were eager to join the United States, Trump said he did not know.
“We have to convince them,” he said. “And we have to have that land, because it’s not possible to properly defend a large section of this Earth, not just the United States, without it.”
Trump’s remarks prompted Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to say on her Facebook account: “We mustn’t have illusions — President Trump’s interest in Greenland is not going away”.
“They know that Greenland is not for sale. They know that Greenland doesn’t want to be part of the United States,” she said, adding the message had been communicated “unambiguously.”
According to Reuters, Danish government ministers condemned what they called President Donald Trump’s escalated rhetoric on Thursday and praised Greenland’s inhabitants for their resilience in the face of US pressure for control over the Arctic island.
Vance’s visit
Trump’s latest strident remarks come as Vice President Vance is due to accompany his wife Usha on a visit to the US-run Pituffik Space Base in Greenland on Friday.
Frederiksen and Greenland’s outgoing Prime Minister Mute Egede had earlier strongly criticized plans by a US delegation to visit the Arctic island uninvited for what was initially a much broader visit.
Egede had characterized the initial plans as “foreign interference,” noting that the outgoing government had not “sent out any invitations for visits, private or official.”
On Wednesday, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen welcomed the decision to limit the visit to the US space base.
“I think it’s very positive that the Americans have canceled their visit among Greenlandic society. They will only visit their own base, Pituffik, and we have nothing against that,” he told public broadcaster DR.
