US president said ‘we have to convince them’, as he claimed taking control of Greenland was essential for US national security.
United States President Donald Trump has re-asserted his desire for Washington to take control of Greenland, in advance of a controversial planned visit to the Danish autonomous territory by Vice President JD Vance.
“We need Greenland for international safety and security. We need it. We have to have it,” Trump said in an interview on Wednesday.
“I hate to put it that way, but we’re going to have to have it,” he said.
Since returning to the White House in January, President Trump has repeatedly insisted he wants to take control of Greenland for national security purposes.
Trump has refused to rule out the use of military force to bring the Arctic territory under Washington’s control, despite it being ruled by NATO-ally Denmark for six centuries.
“We have to have that land because it’s not possible to properly defend a large section of this Earth, not just the United States, without it,” Trump said.
“It’s an island that from a defensive posture, and even offensive posture, is something we need, especially with the world the way it is, and we’re going to have to have it,” he said.
Located between North America and Europe, Greenland is of geo-strategic importance at a time of rising US, Chinese and Russian interest in the Arctic.
The territory also holds massive untapped mineral and oil reserves – though exploration is currently banned – that could significantly shift the dynamics of global trade.
Asked by the interviewer if he thought Greenlanders were eager to join the US, Trump said he did not know, but “we have to convince them”.
Greenland has repeatedly declared its stated goal of eventual independence from Denmark. Earlier this month, the centre-right opposition Demokraatit party – which is described as pro-business and in favour of a slow approach to independence – won parliamentary elections in the territory.
In light of the Trump administration’s increasingly assertive overtures, 85 percent of the semi-autonomous Arctic territory’s population has also expressed their opposition to coming under Washington’s rule.
Trump’s latest incendiary remarks come as Vice President Vance is set to accompany his wife, Usha, on a visit to Greenland this Friday.
An initial itinerary, which included a visit to a dogsled race, caused anger among Greenlandic officials and the general public. Vance, his wife and other Trump administration officials will now visit a US military base in Greenland instead.
The territory’s acting head of government, Mute Egede, had labelled the uninvited trip a “provocation” and “foreign interference” in its affairs. Posting on Facebook, the outgoing Greenlandic government said it had not “extended any invitations for any visits, neither private nor official”.
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen also accused the US of exerting “unacceptable pressure” on Greenland and Denmark through the trip.
“It is pressure that we will resist,” she told Danish media on Tuesday. “This is clearly not a visit that is about what Greenland needs or wants.”
Responding to the backlash, the White House later announced that the Vances will now visit the US-run Pituffik Space Base in Greenland in lieu of the dogsled race, where an anti-US demonstration was reportedly planned.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen welcomed the decision to limit the visit to the US base.
“I think it’s very positive that the Americans have cancelled their visit among Greenlandic society. They will only visit their own base, Pituffik, and we have nothing against that,” he said.
Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said visiting the military base was a “much wiser decision” than interfering in “what is happening in Greenlandic politics”.