Donald Trump issues Greenland warning ahead of Danish-US talks

President Donald Trump has said that anything less than US control of Greenland is unacceptable, hours before Vice President JD Vance is to host Danish and Greenlandic officials for talks.

In a post on his social media site, Mr Trump reiterated his argument that the US “needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security”.

He added that “NATO should be leading the way for us to get it” and that otherwise Russia or China would.

“NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES,” Mr Trump wrote. “Anything less than that is unacceptable.”

Greenland is at the centre of a geopolitical storm as Mr Trump is insisting he wants to own the island — and the residents of its capital, Nuuk, say it is not for sale. The White House has not ruled out taking the Arctic island by force.

Mr Vance is to meet Denmark’s foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt in Washington on Wednesday to discuss the island, which is a semi-autonomous territory of the US’s Nato ally Denmark.

Ahead of the meeting, France’s foreign minister denounced what he described as US “blackmail” over Greenland in the latest sign of irritation among America’s allies.

Along the narrow, snow-covered main street in Nuuk, international journalists and camera crews have been stopping passers-by asking them for their thoughts on a crisis which Denmark’s prime minister has warned could potentially trigger the end of Nato.

Tuuta Mikaelsen, a 22-year-old student, told The Associated Press in Nuuk that she hoped American officials would get the message to “back off”.

Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen told a news conference in the Danish capital Copenhagen on Tuesday that, “if we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark. We choose Nato. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU.”

Asked later on Tuesday about Mr Nielsen’s comments, Mr Trump replied: “I disagree with him. I don’t know who he is. I don’t know anything about him. But, that’s going to be a big problem for him.”

Greenland is strategically important because as climate change causes the ice to melt, it opens up the possibility of shorter trade routes to Asia. That also could make it easier to extract and transport untapped deposits of critical minerals which are needed for computers and phones.

Denmark has vowed for months to strengthen its military presence there. The Defence Ministry said that, starting on Wednesday, the military is deploying “capabilities and units” related to exercises.

“In the period ahead, this will result in an increased military presence in and around Greenland, comprising aircraft, vessels and soldiers, including from Nato allies,” it said in a statement.

Defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen said that the Danish military, “together with a number of Arctic and European allies, will explore in the coming weeks how an increased presence and exercise activity in the Arctic can be implemented in practice”.

Mr Trump said in Wednesday’s post that Greenland is “vital” to the United States’ Golden Dome missile defence programme. He also has said he wants the island to expand America’s security and has cited what he says is the threat from Russian and Chinese ships as a reason to control it.

But both experts and Greenlanders question that claim.

“The only Chinese I see is when I go to the fast food market,” heating engineer Lars Vintner said. He said he frequently goes sailing and hunting and has never seen Russian or Chinese ships.

His friend, Hans Norgaard, agreed, adding “what has come out of the mouth of Donald Trump about all these ships is just fantasy”.

Denmark has said the US, which already has a military presence, can boost its bases on Greenland. For that reason, “security is just a cover,” Mr Vintner said, suggesting Mr Trump actually wants to own the island to make money from its untapped natural resources.