After appointing Louisiana governor, Republican Jeff Landry, as special envoy to deal with issues related to Greenland, President Donald Trump renewed his interest by saying that the United States “needs” the Arctic island for “national security” reasons.
In his statements on Christmas Eve, the White House leader criticized Denmark, claiming that the country “invests nothing” in Greenland, a territory under his administration.
Trump further suggested he could explore options for Greenland to come under American control.
The American president raised the tone against Denmark over the weekend by appointing a special envoy for the territory, who expressed in his speech that the autonomous Danish territory should be “part of the United States”.
The measure considered “unacceptable” by the Danish government led the authorities to announce the summons of the American ambassador. “There is an ambassador for the kingdom of Denmark and it is with him that we interact. When the president (Donald Trump) suddenly appoints a special envoy, there is something that causes me a lot of indignation,” the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, told the Danish public television channel DR.
In a joint statement, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic President Jens-Frederik Nielsen warned that no country could “annex other countries, not even on the grounds of international security.”
“Our centuries-old ally has put us in a difficult situation, but we will not deviate from our democratic values,” Frederiksen wrote on his Instagram account, defending Denmark’s territorial integrity.
For his part, Nielsen repeated in a Facebook message that it is Greenland that decides its future and that the territory has its own democracy, makes its own decisions and enjoys a “great union”.
The Arctic island has a population of around 57,000 inhabitants across 2.1 million square kilometers (80% covered by ice) and largely depends on fishing revenues and annual economic aid from Denmark, which covers around half of its total budget.
