Greenland’s leaders issued a sharp rebuke of Donald Trump’s renewed calls to annex it Thursday, after the president once again expressed his desire to take over the Arctic island.
“I think it will happen,” Trump said during a news briefing at the Oval Office, after being asked directly about his vision to acquire the semiautonomous nation. He added: “We really need it for national security.”
Outgoing Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede responded in a Facebook post: “Enough is enough.”
Egede added that he planned to summon the leaders from all parties in Greenland to issue a joint rejection of Trump’s overtures.
Snowcapped buildings in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital.
Trump told NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte that the U.S. needs the island “for international security.” He added: “We have a lot of our favorite players cruising around the coast, and we have to be careful.”
Rutte, sitting next to Trump, did not directly comment on the president’s statement because he said he did not “want to drag NATO” into the issue, according to Reuters.
But, Rutte added, “We know things are changing there, and we have to be there.”
The sharp exchange between Trump and Greenland’s leaders comes after the self-governing region of Denmark held a tightly contested parliamentary election earlier this week, in which the pro-business Demokraatit party defeated Egede’s ruling Inuit Ataqatigiit party in a surprise result. The Demokraatit party will now need to form a coalition government.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during a meeting with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Thursday.
Jens-Frederik Nielsen, the country’s likely next prime minister, has also rejected Trump’s suggestion. In a Facebook post Thursday, he said the president’s statement was “inappropriate and just shows once again that we must stand together in such situations.”
Greenland, the world’s largest island, sparsely populated with 56,000 people, was thrust into the limelight after Trump took office Jan. 20 and called for its U.S. acquisition, saying its vast mineral wealth and existing U.S. military base are strategically important against rivals Russia and China.
All candidates ahead of Greenland’s election said they did not want their island to become part of the U.S. amid growing calls for independence from Denmark, its former colonial ruler, which still controls decisions on foreign and defense policy.
Greenland won the right to hold a referendum to gain full independence from Denmark in 2009, but a poll at the time also found that many were divided on the pace at which to do so.
On Thursday, Trump also undermined Copenhagen’s claim to the island, saying it was “very far away and really has nothing to do.”
“A boat landed there 200 years ago or something? And they say they have rights to it. I don’t know if that’s true. I don’t think it is,” he added.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has repeatedly rejected Trump’s suggestion in the past, stating that “Greenland is not for sale.”
Rasmus Jarlov, chairman of the defense committee in Denmark’s parliament, said in a post on X on Thursday that Denmark did not appreciate Rutte “joking with Trump about Greenland like this.”
“It would mean war between two NATO countries,” he added.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
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