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Greenland PM warns Donald Trump still wants Arctic region ‘to be tied to’ US
Greenland PM said Jens-Frederik Nielsen Washington still seeks “paths to ownership and control over Greenland.”
Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen on Monday warned that the United States still seeks to control the Arctic island, despite President Donald Trump seeming to back away from earlier threats of military action.
“The view upon Greenland and the population has not changed: Greenland is to be tied to the US and governed from there,” Nielsen said in a speech to Parliament, speaking via a translator, Reuters news agency reported. The Greenland PM said Washington still seeks “paths to ownership and control over Greenland.”
US President Trump had, at the start of the year, ramped up calls for US control over Greenland, citing national interest and security reasons linked to Russia and China. The US had not ruled out military action initially, which led to cracks in the NATO alliance.
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However, Trump has since signalled a de-escalation and backed away from threats of force, saying he secured total US access to Greenland in a NATO deal. However, the US President did not specify details regarding this further.
Negotiations underway for ‘very important’ Greenland deal, says Trump
Meanwhile, US President Trump had on Saturday said that negotiations over a deal on Greenland were underway, and the parties would soon reach upon an agreement.
“We have started a negotiation, and I think it's pretty well agreed to. I mean, they want us to do it,” Trump said while responding to a reporter's question aboard Air Force One, ANI reported.
"I think it's gonna be a good deal for everybody, very important deal actually, from a national security point of view, very, very important deal. I think we're going to make a deal there," the US President further said.
However, Trump did not specify whether he had recently spoken to French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and other European leaders.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen on Thursday said initial talks between Denmark, Greenland and US had “gone well”, wherein top officials had agreed to establish a “working group” to discuss Arctic security, Politico reported.
“After that there was a huge derailment,” Rasmussen said in reference to Trump's military action threats. “Things escalated, but now we are back on track,” Politico cited the Danish minister as saying.
