‘Stop the threats’ Denmark tells US after new Trump remarks

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen slammed the Trump administration’s latest comments about annexing Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory under Denmark.

After US President Donald Trump said in an interview with The Atlantic published on Sunday that more countries could expect military intervention and that the US “absolutely needs Greenland,” Frederiksen responded in particularly forthright terms.

“I have to say this very directly to the United States,” a statement released late Sunday begins.

“It makes absolutely no sense to talk about the need for the United States to take over Greenland. The United States has no right to annex any of the three countries in the Danish Realm,” Frederiksen said.

After that, she went on to explain that  all of the Kingdom of Denmark, including Greenland, is part of NATO and so covered by the alliance’s security guarantees.

And Frederiksen said that the US and Denmark already have a defence agreement that gives Washington “broad access to Greenland.”

“I would therefore strongly urge the United States to stop threatening a historically close ally and another country and people who have made it very clear that they are not for sale,” the statement concludes.

On Sunday, Katie Miller, a former Trump official and the wife of current White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, posted a map of a star-spangled Greenland captioned with the word “SOON” to social media on Saturday – after the US operation earlier that same day.

The latest exchange over Greenland comes weeks after Trump appointed a special envoy to Greenland, flustering officials in Nuuk, Copenhagen, and Brussels.

“It’s an honour to serve you in this volunteer position to make Greenland a part of the US,” Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry wrote upon taking the position.

(cp)