President Donald Trump welcomed the chief of the North Atlantic Treaty Group to the Oval Workplace with an hour-long media availability throughout which he once more threatened to forcibly seize territory belonging to a different member of the 32-nation alliance.
Sitting alongside NATO Secretary-Basic Mark Rutte on Thursday, Trump was requested about his oft-stated need for the USA to realize management of Greenland, the autonomous island territory that’s at the moment a part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
Trump mentioned of the proposed annexation: “I feel it’ll occur” and famous that he was sitting with Rutte, who he known as “a person that may very well be very instrumental” in such a transaction although neither Denmark nor the Greenlandic inhabitants are fascinated with ceding the territory to the U.S.
“We’d like that for worldwide safety, not simply nationwide safety,” he mentioned of the island.
Rutte, showing barely chagrined by the president’s remarks, replied: “In the case of Greenland, becoming a member of or not becoming a member of the U.S., I would go away that exterior … this dialogue as a result of I don’t need to drag NATO into that.”
However the former Dutch prime minister shortly pivoted to praising Trump by stating that he was “completely proper” about the necessity to keep a safety posture in “the excessive north and the Arctic.”
Trump replied that Denmark is “very far-off” from Greenland and famous that there’s already an American army presence there earlier than suggesting that the U.S. might ship “increasingly troopers” there, implying that they may very well be used to take management of the island, and requested: “What do you consider that?”
Turning to Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth, Trump shortly added: “Pete, Don’t reply that.
The world’s largest island, Greenland is at the moment the topic of a longstanding protection settlement between the USA and Denmark that enables the U.S. to function army amenities there, together with Ptiuffik Area Base, previously often known as Thule Air Base.
America as soon as provided to buy the island within the wake of the Second World Battle however the Danish authorities declined the supply. Since profitable the 2024 presidential election, Trump has repeatedly threatened to annex Greenland in public remarks on quite a lot of events.
The Danish authorities and the Greenlandic authorities have each mentioned that the territory shouldn’t be up on the market.
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