Denmark warns Trump to stop Greenland threats in wake of Venezuela

[COPENHAGEN] Denmark’s prime minister urged US President Donald Trump to stop threatening to take control of Greenland as the US president’s move to run Venezuela set alarm bells ringing in the Nordic nation about America’s military ambitions.

Mette Frederiksen’s comments came in response to Trump’s renewed assertion on Sunday (Jan 4) that the US needs Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory within the Danish kingdom, for defence purposes.

“I need to say this very directly to the US,” Frederiksen said. “The US has no right to annex any of the three countries of the Kingdom of Denmark.”

Frederiksen emphasised that the Danish kingdom, including Greenland, is part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and therefore covered by the alliance’s collective defence guarantee. She also pointed to a longstanding defence agreement that gives the US “extensive access to Greenland”.

Trump has repeatedly argued that US control of Greenland is necessary for national security, but the move to detain Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has further heightened concerns that the US would broaden its military footprint in the Western Hemisphere.

“We do need Greenland, absolutely,” Trump told The Atlantic on Sunday. “We need it for defence.”

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The remarks followed a late-Saturday post on X by Katie Miller, the wife of Trump deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, showing Greenland depicted in the colours of the US flag alongside the single-word caption: “SOON”.

Greenland’s Premier Jens-Frederik Nielsen in a post on Facebook earlier on Sunday called the image “disrespectful”, but said “there is no reason for panic”.

“We are a democratic society with self-government, free elections and strong institutions,” he said. “Our position is firmly anchored in international law and in internationally recognised agreements.” BLOOMBERG