France has warned Donald Trump against threatening the European Union‘s ‘sovereign borders’ after the president-elect refused to rule out military action to take control of Greenland.
Trump has ramped up calls for the US to either purchase or stage a takeover of the ‘strategically located’ nation, which is an autonomous territory of EU member Denmark.
‘There is no question of the EU letting other nations in the world, whoever they may be, attack its sovereign borders,’ French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told the France Inter radio station.
He added that while he did not believe the US ‘would invade’ Greenland ‘we have entered an era that is seeing the return of the law of the strongest’.
‘We are a strong continent, we need to strengthen ourselves further,’ he went on, warning that Europe needs to ‘wake up’ to the reality of an increasingly insecure world and ‘reinforce ourselves, militarily, in competition’.
Barrot added that he believed that the United States is ‘inherently not imperialistic’ and said he ‘did not believe’ that it is changing.
Trump has questioned whether Denmark has any legal right or ‘interest’ to Greenland, stating yesterday: ‘People really don’t even know if Denmark has any legal right to it, but if they do, they should give it up, because we need it for national security.’
Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark and has been part of it for 600 years. The Danish government has control of Greenland’s foreign and economic policy, but the territory left the EU in 1985 following a referendum.
The US has a military base there given its strategic position as the shortest oceanic crossroads between North America and Europe.
The island also has a large supply of valuable rare earth minerals – like uranium – not found in the US.
US President-elect Donald Trump arrives to speak to members of the media during a press conference at the Mar-a-Lago Club on January 07, 2025 in Palm Beach, Florida
Trump ramped us his threats to take over Greenland as his son Don Jr. landed in the territory
France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said that while he did not believe the US ‘would invade’ Greenland ‘we have entered an era that is seeing the return of the law of the strongest’
Trump declined on Monday to rule out military or economic action as part of his avowed desire to have the US seize control of Greenland, as well as the Panama Canal. He has also argued for a takeover of Canada.
During a rambling press conference at Mar-a-Lago, a reporter asked Trump if could assure he would not use ‘military or economic coercion’ to take control of the Panama Canal and Greenland.
‘I’m not going to commit to that,’ Trump said, when asked if he would rule out the use of the military.
‘It might be that you’ll have to do something. The Panama Canal is vital to our country.’ He added, ‘We need Greenland for national security purposes.’
He made the comments as his son Donald Trump Jr. made a trip there to shoot social media content.
Trump Jr. took his father’s Trump Force One jet to the country. The president-elect called into his son’s phone to speak to locals when Jr. was in a cafe.
He said that if Denmark tried to hold onto Greenland, they would face heavy economic tariffs. He also argued the people of Greenland would vote to become a part of the United States.
Denmark, during Trump’s first term, rejected the then-president’s offer to buy the island, a position the country has made clear it will maintain.
Donald Trump Jr. visits Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, January 7, 2025. Republican lawmakers are largely in lockstep with Trump’s Greenland plans
Residents wearing MAGA hats stand in front of the Hotel Hans Egede during Donald Trump Jr.’s (not pictured) visit to Nuuk, Greenland
Trump said that while he would not invade was Canada, he would use ‘economic force’ to try and make it the 51st state.
He repeated his argument that the country is economically dependent on the United States. The US is Canada’s biggest trading partner.
Greenland, with a population of 57,000, controls most of its own domestic affairs as a semi-sovereign territory under the Danish realm.
Its relations with Denmark have lately been strained over allegations of historic mistreatment of Greenlanders under colonial rule.
Egede has stated that the island is not for sale, while in his New Year speech he stepped up a push for independence from Denmark. Denmark also says the territory is not for sale, and that its fate can be decided only by Greenlanders.
In 2019, Trump cancelled a planned visit to Denmark after Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen rebuffed his idea of the US purchasing Greenland.