LAST UPDATE | 5 Jan

THE PRIME MINISTER of Greenland has called for renewed talks with the US after Donald Trump repeated that he wanted to annex the mineral-rich territory. 

It comes after Denmark, France and the United Kingdom pushed back on the US President’s continued threats against the autonomous Danish territory and NATO ally. 

Trump’s military intervention in Venezuela, which involved kidnapping the country’s authoritarian leader and his wife, has reignited fears for Greenland.

He has repeatedly claimed the US “needs” to annex for so-called national security reasons.

“We’ll worry about Greenland in about two months… let’s talk about Greenland in 20 days,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday. 

Speaking this evening, Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederick said: 

The situation is not such that the United States can conquer Greenland. That is not the case. Therefore, we must not panic.

“We must restore the good cooperation we once had,” Nielsen said, adding “we must try to re-establish contact”.

Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen at a press conference in Nuuk, Greenland. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Following Trump’s comments on Sunday, Nielsen took to social media to warn the US President: “That’s enough now. No more pressure. No more insinuations. No more fantasies of annexation.

“We are open to dialogue. We are open to discussions. But this must happen through the proper channels and with respect for international law,” he said. 

US attack ‘would mean end of NATO’

Meanwhile, Denmark’s Prime Minister today warned that any US attack on a NATO ally would be the end of “everything”.

“If the United States decides to militarily attack another NATO country, then everything would stop, that includes NATO and therefore post-World War II security,” Mette Frederiksen told Danish television network TV2.

She said her government was doing “all that is possible so that is not the case”.

In an interview with The Atlantic yesterday, Trump reaffirmed that Venezuela may not be the last country the United States intervenes in, describing Greenland as an island “surrounded by Russian and Chinese ships.”

Asked what US military action in Venezuela means for Greenland, Trump told The Atlantic that it was up to others to decide. 

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. Alamy Alamy

“They are going to have to view it themselves. I really don’t know,” Trump was quoted as saying. “But we do need Greenland, absolutely. We need it for defence.”

His comments came after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the world should take notice after the Venezuela operation.

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Trump has said the US will now “run” Venezuela indefinitely and tap its huge oil reserves.

“​​When he tells you that he’s going to do something, when he tells you he’s going to address a problem, he means it,” Rubio said.

Criticism

Expressing its “solidarity” with Denmark today, France’s foreign ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux said that “borders cannot be changed by force”.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer also offered his support to Greenland and called on Trump to stop proposing the US annexe the island.

Asked by reporters about his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen’s insistence that Trump has no right to claim Greenland, Starmer said: “Well, I stand with her, and she’s right about the future of Greenland.”

In a separate question, the Prime Minister was asked if he agreed with calls from the Danes for the US president to stop proposing American annexation of the island.

“Yes,” Starmer replied, adding: “Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark are to decide the future of Greenland, and only Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark.

“Denmark is a close ally in Europe, it is a Nato ally, and it’s very important the future of Greenland is, as I say, for the Kingdom of Denmark, and for Greenland, and only for Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark.”

With reporting from Jane Moore, AFP and Press Association.