WASHINGTON — President Trump said Friday that the US will acquire Greenland “whether they like it or not” because “if we don’t do it, China or Russia will.”
Trump vowed Denmark would transfer Greenland “the easy way” or “the hard way.”
“Ownership” is necessary, Trump insisted at the White House, because “you don’t defend leases the same way — you have to own it.”
The remarks were Trump’s most forceful to date on taking the world’s largest island and come just three days after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said military action was “always an option.”
The setting of the comments, notably, was a forum with oil executives to discuss divvying up Venezuela’s oil resources following the Saturday US raid that captured that country’s president Nicolas Maduro.
On Greenland, Trump ruled out compromises such as Copenhagen allowing for an enhanced US military presence or a free-association compact with an independent local government.
“When we own it, we defend it. You don’t defend leases the same way. You have to own it,” Trump said.
“Countries can’t make nine-year deals, or even 100-year deals. Countries have to have ownership. And you defend ownership, you don’t defend leases, and we’ll have to defend Greenland. If we don’t do it, China or Russia will — not going to happen.”
Greenland, home to about 57,000 people, would be the largest US territorial acquisition in history — exceeding the land area of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase from France and the 1867 Alaska Purchase from Russia.
Although the billionaire developer-turned-president is said to pine for a record-breaking real estate deal to plant Old Glory in the Land of Ice and Snow, he insisted Friday he’s not currently considering a price.
“I’m not talking about money for Greenland yet. I might talk about that, but right now, we are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or 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,” Trump said.
Reuters reported this week that Trump was considering a stipend of up to $100,000 per Greenlander to sway them to voluntarily join the United States — after Secretary of State Marco Rubio told members of Congress Trump is considering buying the territory.
Rubio, who was sitting next to Trump at the event, is scheduled to meet next week with outraged Danish leaders.
“I would like to make a deal, you know, the easy way. But if we don’t do it the easy way, we’re going to do it the hard way,” Trump said.
“And by the way, I’m a fan of Denmark too, I have to tell you. And you know, they’ve been very nice to me. I’m a big fan. But you know, the fact that they had a boat land there 500 years ago doesn’t mean that they own the land.”
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Monday that a US military takeover would end the NATO alliance and has long refused to entertain giving up Greenland — prompting Trump to cancel a 2019 visit to the kingdom in protest of her “nasty” refusal to consider it.
“If the United States chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops,” she said. “That is, including our NATO and thus the security that has been provided since the end of the Second World War.”
Greenlandic premier Jens Frederik Nielsen, meanwhile, declared “our country is not for sale.”
