As Donald Trump continues to laud the success of his operation to arrest and detain Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, he's already begun to turn his attention towards several other nations, including Greenland.
Since bringing Maduro into US custody over the weekend, Trump has already started flinging threats at other nations, with Colombia, Mexico and Cuba already in the firing line.
Trump told reporters on Air Force One that Colombia was run by a ‘sick man’ who likes ‘making cocaine and selling it to the United States.’
He also claimed that Mexico was being overrun by the cartels and accused Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum of being well out of her depth.
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He even briefly touched on Cuba, as he declared the country was ‘ready to fall’ as he said without Venezuela, there would be no money for it to function.
Yet it is the president’s continued remarks about Greenland that have begun to place European leaders on high alert, as Trump repeated his comments that the country was vital to maintaining US security.
Trump first seriously mentioned taking control of Greenland back in March, when he declared: "One way or the other, we’re going to get Greenland.”
And since then, numerous references to the potential for the US to take ownership of the Danish territory have been floated – albeit without the support of Greenlanders themselves or the Danish government.
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Yet since assuming temporary control over Venezuela, Trump appears to be doubling down on his insistence that the US should occupy the island nation, with the president mentioning multiple times in the hours since Maduro’s capture that he wanted to annexe Greenland.
Speaking to NBC News, Trump said he is ‘very serious’ about taking Greenland.
"We need Greenland for national security, and that includes Europe," the US president said.
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"That includes, you know, I'm very loyal to Europe. That includes Europe. We need [it] for national security, right now."
Trump then reiterated that Greenland is ‘very important for the national security of the US, Europe and other parts of the free world.’
Similarly, he also told The Atlantic that the US ‘absolutely’ needed the island of Greenland, whether the people who live there liked it or not.
Shortly after the idea was once again floated by Trump, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen released a statement in response, saying: "It makes absolutely no sense to talk about the need for the United States to take over Greenland."
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Frederiksen also doubled down on what it would mean should Trump take matters into his own hands, as any attack on Greenland would be an attack on NATO.
“If the United States decides to militarily attack another NATO country, then everything would stop – that includes NATO and therefore post-Second World War security,” Frederiksen told Danish television network TV2.
Greenland’s strategic location between Europe and North America makes it a critical site for the US ballistic missile defence system – and is the primary reason why Trump is so keen to secure it.
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Yet there are also financial incentives for Trump, too, as Greenland is rich in several mineral deposits that could stop Washington’s dependence on Chinese exports.
While Trump may have his sights set on Greenland, the country’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen has told the US leader to keep dreaming, as his country has no intention of surrendering itself to the powerhouse nation.
Speaking on social media, he told Trump to give up his ‘fantasies about annexation’ and accused the US of ‘completely and utterly unacceptable’ rhetoric.
“Threats, pressure and talk of annexation have no place between friends,” said Nielsen.
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“That is not how you speak to a people who have shown responsibility, stability and loyalty time and again. Enough is enough. No more pressure. No more innuendo. No more fantasies about annexation.”
Topics: Donald Trump, Greenland
Phoebe Tonks