Greenland’s Prime Minister has once again hit back at claims from Donald Trump that the nation will be taken over by the USA.
Mute Egede, known also as the Premier of Greenland, has responded to claims from the US President that he would take the country ‘one way or another’, while incoming Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen has also shared his opinion on the comments.
When speaking in a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Trump told the press that the country needed Greenland for ‘international security’.
He claimed: “Well I think it will happen, I’m just thinking, I didn’t give it much thought – but I’m sitting with a man who could be very instrumental.
“You know Mark, we need it for international security, not just security, but international.”
However, Rutte replied: “When it comes to Greenland, I don’t want to drag NATO into that,” adding that his focus is on the Arctic and that ‘certain Arctic countries working together on this under US leadership’ is key.
Earlier this month, Trump also told Congress: “We strongly support your right to determine your own future. And if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America.
“We will keep you safe. We will make you rich. And together we will take Greenland to heights like you have never thought possible before.”
He then highlighted: “We need it really for international world security. And I think we’re going to get it. One way or the other, we’re going to get it.”
Trump seems set on taking Greenland (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Reluctance has come from Greenland and Denmark, the latter of which Greenland is an autonomous territory under.
The incoming Greenland Premier, Jans-Frederik Nielsen, has now released a firm statement about the American President’s claims, saying: “Trump’s statement from the US is inappropriate and just shows once again that we must stand together in such situations.”
Nielsen’s Demokraatit party won Greenland’s parliamentary election on Tuesday (11 March).
In his victory speech, he powerfully claimed: “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. And we want to build our own country by ourselves.”
Current leader Mute Egede echoed these sentiments, saying ‘Kalaallit Nunaat is ours’ (Kalaallit Nunaat is the Greenlanders’ name for their country), explaining: “We don’t want to be Americans, nor Danes; We are Kalaallit. The Americans and their leader must understand that.
“We are not for sale and cannot simply be taken. Our future will be decided by us in Greenland.”
Incoming Greenland Prime Minister Jans-Frederik Nielsen didn’t hold back when addressing Trump’s comments (MADS CLAUS RASMUSSEN/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images)
Egede would later add: “The U.S. president has once again aired the thought of annexing us.
“Enough is enough.”
He also said in a statement that Trump hasn’t showed Greenlanders ‘respect’ since taking office, even claiming: “The recent things that the American president has done mean that you don’t want to get as close to (the US) as you might have wanted in the past.”
Greenland have widely remained against an annexation throughout Trump’s plan to take the nation of 56,000 over.
Featured Image Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images
Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, US News, World News
Joshua Nair
Greenland’s PM breaks silence after Donald Trump says USA will take country ‘one way or another’
Unsurprisingly, they don’t want their country to be taken over
Greenland’s prime minister has responded after US President Donald Trump declared that America would take it over ‘one way or the other’.
Trump has been talking about taking over Greenland for a while, having claimed that the US will ‘need it for national security’, saying he was ‘talking about protecting the free world’ when he spoke of occupying the world’s largest island.
Greenland is an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, which has insisted that they will not be selling it to the Americans, and while there is an independence movement in the territory they are not rushing to become the next American state.
In his address to Congress yesterday (4 March), Trump once again spoke of his desire to take over Greenland, saying: “We strongly support your right to determine your own future. And if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America.
“We will keep you safe. We will make you rich. And together we will take Greenland to heights like you have never thought possible before.”
Trump said his government was ‘working with everybody involved to try to get’ Greenland, and despite the lack of desire from Greenland or Denmark for his ideas he made it clear he thinks he will succeed eventually.
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Donald Trump wants Greenland, Greenland doesn’t want Donald Trump (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
“We need it really for international world security. And I think we’re going to get it. One way or the other, we’re going to get it,” he told Congress.
Responding to Trump’s ominous declaration that the US was ‘going to get’ Greenland ‘one way or the other‘, Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Bourup Egede released a statement declaring that ‘Kalaallit Nunaat is ours’ (Kalaallit Nunaat is the Greenlanders’ name for their country).
He said: “We don’t want to be Americans, nor Danes; We are Kalaallit. The Americans and their leader must understand that.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Bourup Egede has made it clear Greenland doesn’t want to be part of the US (Kristian Tuxen Ladegaard Berg/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
“We are not for sale and cannot simply be taken. Our future will be decided by us in Greenland.”
Trump’s notion of the US taking over Greenland would seem to run very much contrary to the desire of the 56,000 people who actually live there, which would seem to be a massive obstacle to his plans to take it over.
Denmark’s foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said he didn’t think that Greenland wanted to become independent just to end up being ‘an integrated part of America’.
