President Donald Trump stirred up his desire for the United States to acquire Greenland during a Wednesday press conference with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Ankara, Turkey.
Trump said that Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of fellow NATO member Denmark, is a “big problem for us.”
“Greenland is very important to the United States, but it’s not important to Denmark,” Trump said on the final day of the NATO summit.
“We need it for protection of the world, not just the United States,” Trump added.
Trump headed to NATO already displeased with members for rejecting the 5% GDP commitment negotiated during last year’s NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands. On Wednesday, he added another grievance. “I’m not happy with NATO because of what they did with Greenland,” he said.
Earlier at the summit, Trump said during a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Greenland “should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark.”
Rutte, who is also known as a sort of Trump whisperer, said that the European nations have already agreed to work with Trump to tighten Arctic security from threats posed by China and Russia.
“I will make sure that that deal is, step by step, being implemented,” Rutte said.
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said her nation is “ready to defend every inch of NATO, including our own territory.”
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“We hope that all, including all allies, will respect the Greenland people’s right for self-determination,” Frederiksen said. “And we are a sovereign state, and we need everybody to respect our territorial integrity and our sovereignty.”
“Greenland is of course not for sale,” she added.