Featured Image Credit: Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post/KNR News
Topics: Donald Trump, JD Vance, US News, Greenland
Phoebe Tonks
Topics: Donald Trump, JD Vance, US News, Greenland
The heartbreaking moment a Greenland official broke down in tears following a meeting at the White House has been caught on live TV.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Greenland Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt sat down at the White House with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday (January 14), in the hopes of cooling ongoing tensions between Greenland and the US.
Yet rather than come to an amicable solution that would properly address President Donald Trump’s ongoing threats and desire to own the autonomous nation, the meeting failed to curb his aspirations to turn Greenland into a US territory.
"We didn’t manage to change the American position," Rasmussen told reporters afterwards, as per Politico. "It’s clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland. We made it very, very clear that this is not in the interest of the Kingdom."
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The news was particularly hard for Motzfeldt to stomach, as she later broke down in tears during a live interview with Greenland's Kalaallit Nunaata Radio.
"We have been working very hard in our department, even though there are not many of us," she told the outlet, according to a translation by Clash Report. "I would not normally like to say these words, but I will say them: We are very strong. We are doing our utmost. But the last days, naturally... Oh, I am getting very emotional. I am overwhelmed."
She continued: "The last days have been tough. Our preparations and the intense and increasing pressure. But I want to say, we are strong in the government. The work is to ensure the Greenlandic people in our country can feel safe and live securely. We are using all our strength to achieve this as we continue the work."
Trump, like many US presidents before him, has always championed the idea of making Greenland a US territory, in order to maintain security in the Arctic and fend off threats from Russia and China.
Yet while his predecessors have been happy to compromise with Greenland by placing US military bases on the island, a solution the country itself was happy with, Trump wishes to go one step further and own the Danish territory.
In fact, the president previously made an offer to buy the island in 2019, during his first presidential term, only to be told it was not for sale.
This hasn’t stopped him from continuing to pursue the idea, however, initially under the guise of ‘national security’ but also due to an increased interest in Greenland's natural resources - including rare earth minerals, uranium and iron.
The nation is also thought to possess rich oil and gas reserves.
Speaking to the New York Times earlier this month, Trump explained why he was so eager to buy Greenland, as he stated it was ‘psychologically important’ to him to lay claim to it.
"I think that ownership gives you a thing that you can’t do, whether you’re talking about a lease or a treaty," he explained. "Ownership gives you things and elements that you can’t get from just signing a document, that you can have a base."
Additionally, he has made repeated threats about potentially taking the country by force, should Greenland continue to rebuke his offer.
"We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not, because if we don’t do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland, and we’re not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor," Trump told reporters on January 9.