US President Donald Trump has given up on the idea of taking Greenland by force, US Ambassador to Denmark Kenneth Howery said at the opening of the new US consulate in Nuuk, Danish media outlets tv2.dk and Berlingske reported.
“The president has taken the use of force off the agenda. Greenland's future is a matter for Greenlanders to decide,“ Howery said in response to a question on KNR radio.
In January, in a telephone interview with The Atlantic, amid the military operation in Venezuela, Donald Trump said that the US “must“ control Greenland. “We absolutely need Greenland. We need it for defense,” he said at the time.
Trump has repeatedly stated that Denmark cannot guarantee the security of Greenland, which the United States needs for national defense. The president claimed that the island (an autonomous region within the Danish kingdom) is “surrounded” by Russian and Chinese ships. However, he later assured that he has no intention of taking the territory under American control militarily.
Trump also stated that Greenland’s defense consists of two dog teams. He then noted that if the United States “doesn’t take” Greenland, Russia or China will, vowing that “it’s not going to happen.” He later joked about Greenland and Venezuela joining the United States.
“We’re not going to invade Greenland. We’re going to buy it. "It was never my intention to make Greenland the 51st state. I want Canada to be the 51st state. Greenland will be the 52nd state. Venezuela could be the 53rd," he said at the time.
In March, the Danish newspaper DR, citing 12 sources, reported that Danish troops who arrived in Greenland in January had brought explosives with them because they were preparing for a possible attack by the United States.