President Donald Trump declined to rule out the use of force to take control of Greenland, soon after several European allies dispatched troops to the territory in an apparent warning to Washington.
Asked by NBC News whether he would use military force to seize Greenland during a brief interview on Monday, the US leader simply replied “No comment.” He previously hinted at a military option, saying last week that the United States would take the territory “one way or another.”
Further ratcheting up tensions over the issue, Trump additionally said he no longer felt “an obligation to think purely of peace” with regard to Greenland, according to a letter he penned to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store and obtained by Bloomberg. The president went on to blame the Nordic state for failing to award him with a Nobel Peace Prize, adding that “The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland.”
After Trump vowed to impose a 10% tariff on eight European states opposed to any US takeover of Greenland – the UK, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Finland – the nations in question deployed a small contingent of troops to the Danish-controlled territory for a round of military drills. On Monday, Copenhagen reportedly sent additional forces to Greenland, with around 100 stationed in the capital city of Nuuk and a similar number deployed to Kangerlussuaq, a town not far from Greenland’s west coast.
The US president has insisted that Greenland is vital to American national security, claiming without evidence that Russia and China also seek to control the territory. He has also argued US control of the country is needed for the proposed “Golden Dome” missile defense shield.
Trump’s escalating rhetoric has stoked outrage in Denmark, which has ruled Greenland since the 18th century, with some 10,000 Danes turning out to protest a US takeover on Saturday. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen previously condemned “unacceptable pressure” by the Trump administration, and warned that any US military intervention to seize Greenland could destroy the NATO alliance.
In Washington, lawmakers in both major parties have decried the president’s push to “acquire” the territory, with some openly protesting the move, while others have quietly sought to reassure Greenland, Denmark and other US allies.
Delaware Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat who arranged a bipartisan trip to Greenland last week, told the Associated Press that he was seeking to “bring the temperature down a bit,” adding that “When the most powerful military nation on earth threatens your territory through its president over and over and over again, you start to take it seriously.”
Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Thom Tillis (North Carolina) were part of the delegation organized by Coons, while other GOP lawmakers met with Denmark’s top diplomat and his counterpart from Greenland to discuss security last week.
Tillis previously slammed the plans to take Greenland as “nonsense” and “a distraction,” adding that “the amateurs who said it was a good idea should lose their jobs.”
The US has a small permanent military presence in Greenland through the Pituffik Space Base, a Space Force installation operated under a Cold War-era agreement with Denmark. According to the Pentagon, the facility “supports missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance missions.”
First Published at Antiwar.com
