Denmark’s International Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Greenland’s International Minister Vivian Motzfeldt converse at a information convention on the Embassy of Denmark in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.
John McDonnell/AP
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John McDonnell/AP
WASHINGTON — A prime Danish official mentioned Wednesday {that a} “elementary disagreement” over Greenland stays with President Donald Trump after talks in Washington with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The 2 sides, nonetheless, agreed to create a working group to debate methods to work by means of variations as Trump continues to name for a U.S. takeover of Denmark’s Arctic territory of Greenland.
“The group, in our view, ought to deal with the right way to tackle the American safety issues, whereas on the similar time respecting the crimson traces of the Kingdom of Denmark,” Danish International Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen advised reporters after a extremely anticipated assembly during which Greenland’s overseas minister additionally participated
Trump is making an attempt to make the case that NATO ought to assist the U.S. purchase the world’s largest island and says something lower than it being underneath American management is unacceptable.
Denmark has introduced plans to spice up the nation’s navy presence within the Arctic and North Atlantic as Trump tries to justify his requires a U.S. takeover of the huge territory by repeatedly claiming that China and Russia have their designs on Greenland.
Vance and Rubio met with Løkke Rasmussen and Greenlandic International Minister Vivian Motzfeldt for roughly an hour to debate Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark.
However just a few hours earlier than the officers sat down, Trump reiterated on his social media web site that the U.S. “wants Greenland for the aim of Nationwide Safety.” He added that “NATO ought to be main the best way for us to get it” and that in any other case Russia or China would — “AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!”
“NATO turns into much more formidable and efficient with Greenland within the arms of the UNITED STATES,” Trump wrote. “Something lower than that’s unacceptable.”
In response, Greenland’s representatives to the U.S. and Canada posted on social media, “Why do not you ask us?” and famous the low share of island residents who favor turning into a part of the U.S.
Denmark bolstering presence in Arctic
In Copenhagen, Danish Protection Minister Troels Lund Poulsen introduced a rise in Denmark’s “navy presence and train exercise” within the Arctic and the North Atlantic, “in shut cooperation with our allies”.
Poulsen mentioned at a information convention the stepped-up navy presence was vital in a safety atmosphere during which “nobody can predict what’s going to occur tomorrow.”
“Which means from immediately and within the coming time there will likely be an elevated navy presence in and round Greenland of plane, ships and troopers, together with from different NATO allies,” Poulsen mentioned.
Different NATO allies had been arriving in Greenland together with Danish personnel, he mentioned. Poulsen declined to call the opposite nations contributing to elevated Arctic presence, saying that it’s as much as the allies to announce their very own participation.
Earlier, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson wrote on X that “some officers from the Swedish Armed Forces are arriving in Greenland immediately” as a part of a gaggle from a number of allied nations. “Collectively, they may put together occasions inside the framework of the Danish train Operation Arctic Endurance,” Kristersson mentioned. Two Norwegian navy personnel additionally will likely be despatched to Greenland to map out additional cooperation with allies, the nation’s Protection Minister Tore O. Sandvik advised newspaper VG.
Greenlanders need the U.S. to again off
Individuals stroll alongside a avenue in downtown of Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday.
Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
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Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, mentioned Tuesday that “if we’ve got to decide on between america and Denmark right here and now, we select Denmark. We select NATO. We select the Kingdom of Denmark. We select the EU.”
Requested about these feedback, Trump replied: “I disagree with him. I do not know who he’s. I do not know something about him. However, that is going to be an enormous drawback for him.”
Greenland is strategically necessary as a result of, as local weather change causes the ice to soften, it opens up the potential for shorter commerce routes to Asia. That additionally may make it simpler to extract and transport untapped deposits of crucial minerals that are wanted for computer systems and telephones.
Trump says Greenland can be “very important” to america’ Golden Dome missile protection program. He additionally has mentioned he desires the island to increase America’s safety and has repeatedly cited what he says is the risk from Russian and Chinese language ships as a purpose to regulate it.
However consultants and Greenlanders query that declare.
“The one Chinese language I see is once I go to the quick meals market,” heating engineer Lars Vintner mentioned. He mentioned he ceaselessly goes crusing and looking and has by no means seen Russian or Chinese language ships.
His buddy, Hans Nørgaard, agreed, including “what has come out of the mouth of Donald Trump about all these ships is simply fantasy.”
Denmark has mentioned the U.S, which already has a navy presence, can increase its bases on Greenland. The U.S. is occasion to a 1951 treaty that provides it broad rights to arrange navy bases there with the consent of Denmark and Greenland.
For that purpose, “safety is only a cowl,” Vintner mentioned, suggesting Trump really desires to personal the island to earn cash from its untapped pure sources.
Mikaelsen, the coed, mentioned Greenlanders profit from being a part of Denmark, which supplies free well being care, training and funds throughout research, and “I do not need the U.S. to take that away from us.”
Løkke Rasmussen and Motzfeldt, together with Denmark’s ambassador to the U.S., deliberate to fulfill later Wednesday with senators from the Arctic Caucus, A bipartisan delegation of U.S. lawmakers can be heading to Copenhagen this week to see Danish and Greenlandic officers.
