U.S., Danish and Greenlandic officials meet in Washington amid growing concern in Nuuk.

On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his interest in directly controlling Greenland, a territory under Danish sovereignty.

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His remarks came on the same day Washington, D.C., is set to host a meeting between Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Greenlandic Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“NATO becomes much more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the U.S. Anything less than that is unacceptable,” Trump wrote in a message on his social media platform Truth Social.

“The U.S. needs Greenland for its national security. It is vital for the ‘Golden Dome’ that we are building,” the U.S. president said, referring to the missile defense system he has proposed to protect the country from space.

“NATO should lead the way in helping us get it. If we don’t, Russia or China will — and that is not going to happen! Militarily, without the vast power of the United States — much of which I built during my first term and which I am now raising to a new and even higher level — NATO would not be an effective or deterrent force, not even close! They know it, and so do I,” he added.

Trump has turned Greenland into the first link in a three-way conflict among the United States, Russia and China over control of the Arctic, a struggle that could push the region into a crisis with unpredictable consequences.

In Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, officials are alarmed by the U.S. president’s statements in recent days, in which he said he would take control of the territory “by good means or by bad.”

On Tuesday, Greenland’s minister for natural resources and business, Naaja Nathanielsen, said Trump’s remarks are causing deep concern among Greenlanders, to the point that the population is anxious and even experiencing trouble sleeping.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

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