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CSPresident Trump on Friday said the U.S. would take over Greenland “whether they like it or not,” arguing that doing so was critical to U.S. national security and necessary to counter Russian and Chinese interests.
“I’m not talking about money for Greenland yet. I might talk about that,” he told reporters at the White House. “But right now, we are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it not, because if we don’t do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland, and we’re not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor.”
Danish and Greenlandic officials have repeatedly said Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark, is not for sale.
“I would like to make a deal, you know, the easy way,” President Trump said. “But if we don’t do it the easy way, we’re going to do it the hard way.”
The president also cast doubt on Denmark’s longstanding territorial claim to the North American island.
“That fact that they had a boat land there 500 years ago, doesn’t mean that they own the land,” he said. “I’m sure we’ve had a lot of boats go there also.”
Asked why the U.S. needed to own the territory rather than expand its military presence there, President Trump said, “When we own it, we defend it. You don’t defend leases the same way. You have to own it.”
“We’re not going to have Russia or China to occupy Greenland, and that’s what’s going to happen if we don’t own it,” the president added. “So, we’re going to be doing something with Greenland either the nice way or the more difficult way.”
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