United States President Donald Trump suggested yesterday that he could punish countries with tariffs if they do not support his plan for the United States to take control of Greenland, the Associated Press reports.
This, as the AP writes, is a message that came at a time when a bipartisan delegation from the US Congress was trying to reduce tensions in the Danish capital.
Trump has insisted for months that the US should control Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, and earlier this week said anything less than the Arctic island being in American hands would be "unacceptable."
During a White House event dedicated to rural healthcare, Trump recalled yesterday how he had threatened European allies with tariffs on pharmaceutical products.
"I might do it for Greenland," Trump said. "I could put tariffs on countries if they don't agree on Greenland, because we need Greenland for national security. So I could do that," he said, according to the AP.
He had not previously mentioned using tariffs as a means of pressure to impose the issue.
Earlier this week, the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met in Washington with US Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
That meeting did not resolve deep differences, but it did result in an agreement to form a working group — the purpose of which was subsequently presented to the public in very different ways by Denmark and the White House.
European leaders insist that only Denmark and Greenland can decide on issues concerning the territory, and Denmark announced this week that it is increasing its military presence in Greenland in cooperation with its allies.
A relationship that we "must cherish"
In Copenhagen on Friday, a group of senators and members of the House of Representatives met with Danish and Greenlandic lawmakers, as well as leaders including Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
The head of the delegation, Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, thanked the hosts for "225 years of good and reliable alliance and partnership" and said that they "had a strong and meaningful dialogue about how to extend that relationship into the future."
Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, said after the meetings that the visit reflected a strong relationship built over decades and that it was “a relationship that we need to nurture.” She told reporters that “Greenland should be viewed as an ally, not an asset, and I think that’s what you’re hearing from this delegation.”
That tone was in stark contrast to the messaging coming from the White House. Trump has sought to justify his calls for a U.S. takeover of Greenland by repeatedly claiming that China and Russia have their own plans for Greenland, which has vast, untapped reserves of key minerals. The White House has not ruled out the possibility of taking the territory by force.
"We've heard, frankly, so many lies and so many exaggerations about threats to Greenland," said Aaja Kemnitz, a Greenlandic politician and member of the Danish parliament who participated in yesterday's meetings. "And I would say mostly that the threats we're seeing now are coming from the American side."
Murkowski emphasized the role of Congress in deciding on budget spending and in conveying messages to voters.
"I think it's important to emphasize that when you ask the American people whether they think it's a good idea for the United States to take over Greenland, the overwhelming majority, about 75 percent, say they don't think it's a good idea," she said.
Along with Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire, Murkowski has proposed bipartisan legislation that would prohibit the use of U.S. Department of Defense or State Department funds to annex or take control of Greenland or the sovereign territory of any NATO member without the consent of that ally or the approval of the North Atlantic Council.
Inuit Council criticizes White House statements
The dispute is having a profound impact on the daily lives of Greenlanders. Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said on Tuesday that "if we have to choose here and now between the United States and Denmark, we choose Denmark. We choose NATO. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the European Union."
The chairwoman of the Nuuk-based Inuit Circumpolar Council, which represents about 180.000 Inuit from Alaska, Canada, Greenland and the Russian region of Chukotka in international affairs, said that the White House's insistence that the US must own Greenland provides "a clear picture of how the US administration views the people of Greenland, how it views indigenous peoples and peoples who are small in number."
Sara Olsvig told the AP in Nuuk that the crux of the problem "is how one of the world's greatest powers views other nations that are less powerful than it. And that's really concerning."
The indigenous Inuit people of Greenland, she said, do not want to be colonized again.
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