After Trump’s Greenland threat: Danish head of government seeks conversation

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is seeking a conversation with future US President Donald Trump after his statements about a possible annexation of Greenland by the United States. Her office has contacted Trump, Frederiksen told reporters on Thursday after a meeting with the heads of the parties represented in the Danish parliament. But she hasn’t spoken to Trump yet.

Frederiksen also reiterated that she does not believe Trump will try to annex Greenland by force. “We have no reason to believe that would happen,” she said.

One of Greenland’s MPs, Aki-Mathilda Höegh-Dam, praised Frederiksen for a “good dialogue”. “I think it’s important to keep a cool head and remember that we have a good partnership,” she said. Trump’s statements wouldn’t change that. Foreign Minister Lars Lökke Rasmussen had previously told journalists that Denmark had “no ambition whatsoever” to escalate a verbal exchange with a president “on his way to the Oval Office.”

The future US president reiterated his threats at a press conference on Tuesday that the US wanted to annex the Panama Canal in Central America and the resource-rich Greenland, which is an autonomous region of Denmark; He did not want to rule out military action. “It may be that something needs to be done,” he said.

Greenland, which geographically belongs to North America, was colonized by Denmark in the 18th century and has had an autonomous status since 1979, which was expanded in 2009. The territory is rich in natural resources. These include oil, gas, gold, diamonds, uranium, zinc and lead. There has been a US Army base on the northwest coast of Greenland since the Cold War.