Donald Trump ‘remains to be very critical’ about buying Greenland, Danish chief Mette Frederiksen says
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has said she believes Donald Trump is still ‘very serious’ about his desire to take over Greenland.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference earlier today she was asked whether the crisis had now passed as Copenhagen and Washington have started to take part in negotiations.
‘I think the desire from the US president is exactly the same. He’s very serious about this,’ she said.
Frederiksen also emphasised that this issue goes back to ‘one of the most basic democratic principles’ of representing sovereign states.
Adding that it is not possible to put a price tag on a country.
She said: ‘Can you put a price on a part of Spain, or a part of the US, or a part of anywhere else in the world?
‘The Greenlandic people have been very clear: they don’t want to become Americans.’
It comes after Trump intensified pressure on Britain and other NATO allies over Greenland’s future.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has said she believes Donald Trump is still ‘very serious’ about his desire to take over Greenland
Since starting his second-term, the president has suggested the US should acquire Greenland to stop Russia and China from taking over strategic positioning in the Arctic region
Framing the island as essential to US and NATO security – and accusing Copenhagen of negligence.
The US President has declared that the US will have ‘total access’ to Greenland as part of a new deal with NATO.
But negotiations with NATO are in the preliminary stage and the exact terms of the final agreement remain unclear.
At the end of January he told Fox News: ‘We’re gonna have total access to Greenland. We’re gonna have all military access that we want.
‘We’re going to be able to put what we need on Greenland because we want it. We’re talking about national security and international security.’
The US military already has multiple bases throughout the Danish territory with leeway to establish more in the future, according to multiple reports.
It is understood that Demark could cede ‘small pockets of Greenlandic’ territory to the US where it could build bases.
Trump previously threated Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland with a 10 per cent tariff after they sent troops to Greenland.
It comes after Trump intensified pressure on Britain and other NATO allies over Greenland’s future
But he quickly U-turned after it led to the stock market crashing.
Since starting his second-term, the president has suggested the US should acquire Greenland to stop Russia and China from taking over strategic positioning in the Arctic region.
The Danish territory provides strategic access to the Arctic, where China and Russia have, in recent years, flexed their geopolitical might as the melting polar ice provides greater access to shipping lanes and natural resources.
Greenland, which houses NATO military bases, is also rich in oil, gold, graphite, copper, iron, and other rare earth elements.
The Trump administration believes Greenland could provide infrastructure for the proposed Golden Dome missile defense system to protect North America from ballistic threats.
