Trump tells NATO chief he wants Greenland, the island's PM & his successor say 'no'

US President Donald Trump reiterated his intentions of acquiring Greenland on Thursday. This time, he repeated his ambition while sitting with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s Secretary-General, Mark Rutte. “I think it will happen,” the POTUS said when asked by a reporter about US’s plan of taking over Greenland. The two leaders were sitting in the Oval Office when the American leader made the proclamation.

“I’m sitting with a man that could be very instrumental — you know, Mark, we need that for international security,” Trump continued while turning to the NATO chief. Rutte, on the other hand, tried to get out of the awkward situation, insisting that he did not “want to drag NATO into” a conversation about the US acquiring Greenland. However, he acknowledged the importance of Arctic security and northern countries working together “under US leadership” to combat China and Russia.

It is pertinent to note that Greenland is part of Denmark, another NATO ally, but is an autonomous territory with its own government. Shortly after Trump’s remarks, Greenland’s probable new prime minister has rejected the American leader’s effort to take control over the island.

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Greenland says no

Jens-Frederik Nielsen, whose centre-right Democrats won a surprise victory in this week’s legislative elections, said that the Arctic island must be allowed to decide its future as it heads towards independence from Denmark. “We don’t want to be Americans. No, we don’t want to be Danes. We want to be Greenlanders, and we want our own independence in the future,” Nielsen, 33, told Sky News. “And we want to build our own country by ourselves," he added.

Meanwhile, Greenland’s outgoing prime minister, Múte Egede, said he would convene a meeting of party leaders to jointly reject Trump’s threats, warning: “Enough is enough.” “This time, we need to toughen our rejection of Trump. People cannot continue to disrespect us,” Egede wrote on Facebook. Egede will lead Greenland until a new government is formed.

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“The American president has once again evoked the idea of annexing us. I absolutely cannot accept that” the Greenland premier wrote. “I respect the result of the election, but I consider that I have an obligation as interim head of government: I have therefore asked the administration to summon the party heads as soon as possible," he added.

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While sitting with Rutte, Trump pointed out that “Denmark’s very far away” from Greenland and questioned whether that country should still have the right to claim over the world’s largest island. “A boat landed there 200 years ago or something. And they say they have rights to it,” the American president said. “I don’t know if that’s true. I don’t think it is, actually," he added. Meanwhile, several pre-election polls have indicated that Greenlanders are not interested in being taken over by the US.

With inputs from agencies.