Greenland’s Prime Minister has declared ‘enough is enough’ in response to President Donald Trump’s threat to send soldiers to the island and annex it.
Mute Egede summoned fellow political leaders to discuss a plan to beef up their rejection of Trump’s plan.
‘The U.S. president has once again aired the thought of annexing us,’ Egede said in a statement.
He added: ‘Enough is enough.’
Jens-Frederik Nielsen, who will be the next prime minster after his Demokraatit party won Greenland’s parliamentary election Tuesday, also turned on Trump.
‘Trump’s statement from the US is inappropriate and just shows once again that we must stand together in such situations,’ he said.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede declared ‘enough is enough’ about President Donald Trump’s wish to annex the island
On Thursday, Trump reiterated the United States ‘needs’ Greenland for national security purposes and indicated he’s willing to send in American troops to take control of the island.
‘I think it’ll happen,’ the president said of annexing Greenland during his Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
‘We really needed for national security. I think that is why NATO might have to get involved anyway,’ he added.
Trump then noted the U.S. already has a military base on Greenland.
‘We have a couple of bases on Greenland already and we have quite a few soldiers. May be you will see more and more soldiers go there,’ he threatened. ‘We have bases and we have quite a few soldiers on Greenland.’
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was sitting on a couch in the Oval Office during the conversation, nodded in agreement. The U.S. has Pituffik Space Base, which supports missile warning and space surveillance operations, on the island.
Trump added he’d talk to Rutte about it, but the NATO secretary declined to get involved.
‘When it comes to Greenland, yes or no joining the U.S., I would leave that outside, for me, this discussion, because I don’t want to direct NATO in that,’ Rutte said.
It’s not the first time Trump mulled using military force to take control of territory he wants to add to the American map.
In early January, after he was elected but before inauguration, Trump indicated he was willing to use force on both Greenland and Panama, where he wants control of the canal.
Greenland party leaders Mute Egede from Inuit Ataqatigiit; Aqqalu C. Jerimiassen from Atassut; Erik Jensen from Siumut; Jens-Frederik Nielsen from Demokraatit; and Pele Broberg from Naleraq gather on the day of the party leader debate
President Donald Trump wit NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office
Greenlanders, however, voted to rebuff President Trump’s effort to bring their island into the United States.
Voters gave first place in Tuesday’s elections to Demokraatit, a center-right party that has never held power but is strongly opposed to an American takeover of the island, which is a Danish territory.
Nielsen, the incoming prime minister, criticized Trump’s call for Greenland to become a U.S. territory.
‘We don’t want to be Americans. No, we don’t want to be Danes. We want to be Greenlanders, and we want our own independence in the future,’ Nielsen said.
‘And we want to build our own country by ourselves.’
The election in Greenland wasn’t just a rejection of Trump. Citizens of the island are also in favor of independence in general, including a split from Denmark.
Second place went to a political party who wants independence from Copenhagen within the next three years.
The Greenland flag flying Nuuk, the capital city
Colorful houses in Nuuk, Greenland
Trump is interested in the island’s strategic position in the North Atlantic and its wealth of minerals. It also is believed to have natural gas and oil off its shores.
There are already fears on Greenland that Trump could take the island by force.
‘I think most of us have been scared since the new year because of (Trump’s) interest,’ Pipaluk Lynge, a member of parliament from the ruling Inuit Ataqatigiit, or United Inuit party, said.
‘So we’re really, really looking to Europe right now to see if we could establish a stronger bond with them to secure our sovereign nation.’
Greenland is the world’s largest island and also one of the most sparsely populated. It is home to about 56,000 people.
It has been controlled by Denmark for almost 300 years. It became a formal territory in 1953 and gained home rule in 1979.
Copenhagen, however, still defends the island.
Greenlanders have Danish passports and healthcare. The island also benefits from Denmark’s memberships in NATO and the EU.
