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US ‘needs Greenland for national security’: Trump stays firm despite Denmark PM's appeal
Trump had expressed the same desire earlier in an interview with The Atlantic magazine, which had triggered a response from leaders of Denmark and Greenland.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's appeal to US President Donald Trump to stop threatening to take over Greenland seems to have fallen flat. The Republican leader reiterated his wish to take over the autonomous territory as he interacted with reporters aboard the Air Force One on Monday.
“I will say this about Greenland - we need Greenland from a national security standpoint. It’s very strategic right now. Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place," Trump said.
He had expressed the same desire earlier in an interview with The Atlantic magazine, which had triggered a response from leaders of Denmark and Greenland. “We do need Greenland, absolutely. We need it for defense,” Trump had said.
In response, the Danish PM reportedly said: “It makes absolutely no sense to talk about the US needing to take over Greenland. The US has no right to annex any of the three countries in the Danish Kingdom.”
He had urged Trump to stop the threats against a “historically close ally and against another country and another people, who have very clearly said that they are not for sale.”
The latest dead of the night US-led operation in Venezuela has sparked concerns of a similar fate for Greenland too. Venezuela's leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife were captured by the US forces and are currently facing a trial in New York over drug-trafficking charges.
The prime minister of Greenland, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, had also reacted on Sunday, saying: “When the President of the United States says that ‘we need Greenland’ and links us to Venezuela and military intervention, it’s not just wrong. It’s disrespectful.”
Trump has long advocated for American jurisdiction in the Danish territory of Greeland. In March, JD Vance visited a remote US military base in Greenland and accused Denmark of under-investing there.
