US President Donald Trump had a telephone conversation with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen about Greenland last week, the Financial Times reported on Friday. According to the newspaper's sources, the conversation went “very badly” and left the Danes without hope that Trump's territorial claims were just a negotiation tactic. The head of Danish diplomacy was supposed to talk with the new secretary of state on Friday, but the discussion did not concern Greenland.
As the Financial Times reports, the president's conversation USA Donald Trump with the premiere Denmark Mette Frederiksen – which took place before the president's inauguration and was not publicly announced – was turbulent and “went very wrong.”
Trump allegedly adopted an “aggressive and confrontational” tone after the head of the Danish government stated that Greenland was not for sale, even though she offered to deepen cooperation on military bases and mineral extraction on the island.
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Greenland (illustrative photo)PAP/EPA/Ida Marie Odgaard
– It was terrible – said one of the five European officials cited by the daily. Another added that Trump was “very decisive.”
– It was a cold shower. Before, it was hard to take it seriously. But I think it's serious and potentially very dangerous, said one of the British daily's interlocutors, who said the Danes were “in crisis mode” and Trump had made his intentions regarding Greenland very clear.
The US wants to buy Greenland
Frederiksen was to convene a meeting with the heads of Danish companies, including: Carlsberg and Novo Nordisk to discuss potential tariffs that Trump threatened the country with.
A spokesman for the US National Security Council confirmed Trump's intentions. – President Trump has made it clear that the security of Greenland is important to the United States because China and Russia are making significant investments throughout the Arctic region. The president is committed not only to protecting U.S. interests in the Arctic, but also to working with Greenland to ensure the mutual prosperity of both nations, he said.
Mute Egede, Prime Minister of Greenland, which has the status of an autonomous territory of Denmark, has consistently repeated that the island wants independence, not being part of the US or Denmark.
Greenlandic Prime Minister Mute Egede on screen during a televised debate in NuukPAP/EPA/EMIL NICOLAI HELMS
The Danes' concerns were confirmed by European diplomats in Washington. – They take it completely seriously, they have serious concerns. The whole situation is absurd, because the Americans have a military presence there, and Denmark is open to expanding it. The Danes maintain the island, and when it comes to minerals, only one American company operates there for now and there has been no major interest so far, the anonymous source said.
GreenlandPAP/Michał Czernek
The second diplomat noted that the US cannot impose tariffs directly on Denmark – due to its membership in the EU single market – but they could impose tariffs on individual goods, such as the popular anti-obesity drug produced by Novo Nordisk, Ozempic.
Greenland. In the background, the Danish frigate HDMS Triton in AttuPAP/EPA/Ida Marie Odgaard
Conversation between the US Secretary of State and the Danish minister
According to a statement from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during a 20-minute conversation between US Secretary of State Marc Rubio and the head of Danish diplomacy Lars Lokke Rasmussen, the politicians raised differences in the amounts of members' fees. NATO.
“The Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs emphasized that Europe, including Denmark, is ready to take a greater share of responsibility for its own security,” the government in Copenhagen said.
In an interview with Danish public broadcaster DR, Rasmussen explained that he had not promised that Denmark would raise defense spending to 5 percent of GDP. President Donald Trump spoke about this threshold on Thursday to participants of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Marco RubioREUTERS POOL
The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs also announced that in a conversation with Rubio, the head of Denmark's diplomacy emphasized the importance of further assistance for Ukraine and recalled that the stakes of the war she was waging were “not only her own survival, but also the security of all Europe and the West.”
As reported, the head of Danish diplomacy told the American interlocutor that Copenhagen is ready to increase pressure on Russia, among others. by introducing new sanctions and taking even more decisive actions against the Russian so-called shadow fleets in the Baltic Sea. Its ships must use the Danish straits to leave this area.
According to the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the parties will discuss the issue of Greenland's security “at a later date and with the participation of the Greenlandic authorities.”
Main photo source: PAP/EPA/Ida Marie Odgaard