‘We have to have it’: Trump renews push for Greenland as Denmark protests

Donald Trump, the president of the United States, has increased his campaign to acquire Greenland, naming a special envoy he hoped would “lead the charge” and declaring that the Danish territory is crucial to national security.

Trump made his remarks on Monday as Denmark and Greenland’s leaders protested remarks made by Louisiana governor Jeff Landry, the new envoy, saying the Arctic region would be “a part of the US.”

Recommended Stories

list of 3 itemsend of list

Trump reiterated his assertion that Greenland is crucial to US defense interests when he addressed reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.

The US president said, “We need Greenland for national security, not for minerals.” We must have it if you look up and down the coast of Greenland and observe Russian and Chinese ships all over it.

Trump praised the governor for comprehending “how crucial Greenland is to our national security,” in a statement released on Sunday.

In a subsequent post on X, Landry stated that it was “an honor to serve… in this volunteer position to make Greenland a part of the US,” adding that his gubernatorial duties would not be affected by the appointment.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland’s prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen both issued a joint statement in which Landry’s statement was harshly criticized.

You can’t take over another nation, they say. They claimed that they didn’t even have to argue about international security. The US should not annex Greenland, according to the statement.

The US moves “may sound big, but they don’t change anything for us,” Nielson wrote in a separate Facebook post. He said, “We decide our own future.”

Our allies are putting us in a challenging situation, Frederiksen wrote in an Instagram post.

Danish Foreign Affairs Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen announced earlier on Monday that he would call US Ambassador Kenneth Howery to express his country’s outcry over Landry’s appointment. Additionally, Rasmussen criticized the governor for his remarks regarding Greenland’s annexation as “absolutely unacceptable.”

Copenhagen was under additional scrutiny from the Trump administration on Monday when it suspended leases for five sizable offshore wind farms off the US East Coast, two of which were being developed by Danish-controlled Orsted.

Meanwhile, Denmark quickly rallied behind the European Union.

Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Commission, and Antonio Costa, the president of the European Council, expressed “full solidarity” with Copenhagen and stressed that territorial integrity and sovereignty are fundamental tenets of international law.

Trump has repeatedly stated that the US “needs” the resource-rich island and has rejected the possibility of using military force to encircle it since returning to the White House in January. The self-governing territory, which borders North America and Europe, has significant mineral deposits and is home to a significant US ballistic missile defense system, which could lessen the US’s dependence on Chinese exports.