PM: 'Greenland Does Not Want to Be Part of the US'

Standing beside Denmark's prime minister in Copenhagen on Tuesday, Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen made his strongest comments yet on President Trump's push to annex the island. "If we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark," he said, per the BBC. "One thing must be clear to everyone. Greenland does not want to be owned by the United States. Greenland does not want to be governed by the United States. Greenland does not want to be part of the United States." He said the semi-autonomous Danish territory is "facing a geopolitical crisis."

Trump has argued the US must "own" Greenland to counter Russia and China, saying a lease isn't enough and "NATO's got to understand that." The White House has floated a purchase and pointedly declined to rule out using force to bring the island under US control. Denmark, a NATO ally, has warned that any military move against Greenland would shatter the transatlantic alliance. On Tuesday, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen blasted what she called "completely unacceptable pressure from our closest ally" and said the most difficult phase may still lie ahead. Last week, Nielsen and the leaders of Greenland's four other major parties said the island's future must be determined by its people.

Asked about Nielsen's comments on Tuesday, Trump told reporters, "That's their problem, I disagree with him. He added: "That's going to be a big problem for him." Thomas Dans, Trump's Arctic commissioner, tells USA Today that there could be US action on Greenland within "weeks or months." "This is a train route with multiple stops," he says. "Things could move on an express basis, skip the local stops and go direct to the main station. That's where President Trump wants to move it—at high speed."

Dans says that while a deal on Greenland could happen soon, there will also be "a process to gain trust and support of the Greenlandic people and this will require time and effort from the US side." Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeld will meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday. They requested the meeting last week. On Monday, Rasmussen said Vice President JD Vance had asked to join the meeting, USA Today reports.