The Arctic island’s election winner panned U.S. president’s comments as “unacceptable.”
Donald Trump repeated on Thursday that the United States will annex Greenland, while cheering the Arctic island’s election result.
“I think it will happen,” said the U.S. president, when asked about his vision for the potential annexation of Greenland during an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
“We need that [Greenland] for international security,” Trump said, adding that he’s confident Rutte would play an “instrumental” role.
Rutte, for his part, said he did not “want to drag NATO” in the discussion, but acknowledged Greenland’s importance for Arctic security in light of Chinese and Russian interests.
Trump caused a stir in January when he said the Danish territory and world’s largest island is an “absolutely necessity” for American security, and refused to rule out economic or military coercion to gain control of it.
Greenland has been a part of the Danish Commonwealth since 1953, when it was upgraded from colony status after over 200 years.
“Denmark is very far away,” Trump said, adding that Copenhagen is not in a position to provide protection.
Múte B. Egede, Greenland’s leader, responded immediately to Trump’s comments on Thursday, saying “enough is enough” and calling the island’s party leaders to a meeting to “strengthen our rejection of Trump.”
Egede is seeing out his last days in office after losing in Greenland’s elections on Tuesday, which Trump called “a good election for us.” The U.S. president complimented the election’s winner, Jens-Frederik Nielsen of the Democratic Party, as “a very good person.”
The Democrats, who won with 30 percent of votes, are known for their business-friendly platform that supports Greenland’s path to independence through more economic opportunity. They have been insistent on overturning the ban on mining the island’s resources.
But Nielsen and the Democrats have also firmly stated that Greenland is not for sale and have rejected the idea of its becoming part of the U.S.
Nielsen called Trump’s comments unacceptable.
“Trump’s statement from the USA is inappropriate and once again shows that in such situations, we must stand together,” he posted on social media Thursday.