Denmark rejects Trump’s Greenland ‘negotiations’
Denmark will not enter into talks about giving up its “fundamental principles,” Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen has said, after US President Donald Trump called for “immediate negotiations” aimed at taking control of Greenland.
During a lengthy speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, Trump reiterated that the US would seize Greenland from Denmark. Describing Greenland as “our territory,” Trump said that he is “seeking immediate negotiations to once again discuss the acquisition” of the island.
Speaking to reporters shortly afterwards, Rasmussen said that Denmark refuses to relinquish sovereignty over Greenland.
“We will not enter negotiations based on giving up fundamental principles,” he said. “That will never happen.”
“We stand on a foundation that the United States largely helped to create after World War II,” he continued, adding that Denmark “will not budge an inch” on matters of national sovereignty.
Greenland already hosts around 150 US troops at Pituffik Space Base, formerly known as Thule Air Base. Under the 1951 Greenland Defense Agreement, American forces can move freely on Greenland’s soil, and the Danish government has welcomed more frequent NATO deployments to the territory. However, Trump has insisted on “ownership” of the land, claiming that “the United States alone” can defend Greenland from the supposed threat posed by Russia and China, a claim Copenhagen, Moscow and Beijing have rejected.
Informed by a reporter that Rasmussen had rejected his demand for negotiations, Trump said that “if he wants to tell me that, he’ll tell me to my face.”
During his speech, he said that he would not “use force” to acquire Greenland, but warned that the Danes “have a choice. You can say yes and we will be very appreciative. Or you can say no, and we will remember.”
