The US President said, “We have to persuade them.” He argued that controlling Greenland was essential to US national security.
President Donald Trump reasserted his desire for Washington to take control of Greenland before Vice President J.D. V. Vance’s controversial and planned visit to Danish territories.
“We need Greenland for international safety and security. We need that. We need to have it,” Trump said in an interview Wednesday.
“I hate to do it that way, but we need to have it,” he said.
Since returning to the White House in January, President Trump has repeatedly insisted he wants to control Greenland for national security.
Trump refused to rule out the use of military force to put Arctic territory under Washington’s control, but it has been ruled by NATO-All Denmark for six centuries.
“We have to have that land because it is impossible to properly defend not only the United States, but most of this planet without it,” Trump said.
“It’s something we need, especially in the world, from defensive stances and even from offensive stances, and an island we have to have,” he said.
Located between North America and Europe, Greenland is geographically strategically important during a period of growing interest in the US, China and Russia in the Arctic.
The territory also retains large undeveloped mineral and oil reserves, although exploration is currently prohibited, which could significantly alter the dynamics of global trade.
When asked by the interviewer if the Greenlanders wanted to join us, Trump said he didn’t know, but said, “We have to convince them.”
Greenland has repeatedly declared its goal of ultimate independence from Denmark. Earlier this month, the central opposition Democratit Party (called professional business and support a slow approach to independence) won parliamentary elections on the territory.
In light of the increasingly assertive overture of the Trump administration, 85% of the semi-autonomous Arctic population have expressed their opposition to Washington’s control.
Trump’s latest inflammatory remarks comes as Vice President Vance is set to accompany his wife Usha, who visited Greenland this Friday.
The first itinerary, which included a visit to dog types, sparked anger among Greenland officials and the general public. Vance, his wife, and other Trump administration officials will visit US military bases in Greenland instead.
Mute Egede, the territory’s representative government chief, named the uninvited travel “provocation” and “foreign intervention” in the matter. Posting on Facebook, the Greenlandic government said “we had not extended the invitation to visit, not private or official.”
Danish Prime Minister Mette Fredericksen also accused the United States of exerting “unacceptable pressure” on Greenland and Denmark through travel.
“It’s the pressure for us to resist,” she told Danish media on Tuesday. “This is clearly not a visit to what Greenland needs or wants.”
In response to the backlash, the White House later announced that Vance would visit the US-run Pitafik Space Station in Greenland in place of a dog-covered race.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Rocke Rasmussen welcomed the decision to limit visits to US bases.
“I think it’s very positive that Americans have cancelled visits among Greenland communities. They only visit their own base, Pituffik, and we’re not against it,” he said.
Danish Defense Minister Troels Rand Paulsen said visiting a military base is a “more wiser decision” than interfering with “what’s happening in Greenland politics.”
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