Speaking at the NATO summit, Trump claimed the U.S. relationship with the agency is being strained by the fact that he hasn’t been given control over the island, which is a semiautonomous region of Denmark.
He said it as part of a minute-long stream-of-consciousness ramble:
“Well, that’s what hurt my relationship with NATO, because Greenland doesn’t help Denmark. Denmark doesn’t spend money to really help Greenland, but it’s an important part for the United States, and it’s surrounded by China ships and Russian ships and that’s not gonna happen, the ships, is not gonna happen. It was Greenland, and it continues to be, that should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark. And when they wouldn’t go along with it, and with all the money we spend to help them with Russia, and we don’t have to spend any money, we could remove all of our soldiers out of Europe, because as you probably noticed, Europe’s a very different place than it was 20 years ago. Lot different, much different, it’s a much different ― and they’d better be careful with immigration and energy. If they’re not careful with those two things, you’re not gonna have a Europe anymore.”
Trump has been obsessing over obtaining Greenland since his first term in office, but has been growing increasingly belligerent about taking it. He has at various points implied he could use force, but also said he won’t use force.
The idea is also unpopular in the United States, where a poll earlier this year found that just 24% of Americans approve of how he is handling Greenland.
Critics on social media ripped the president for brinigng up the issue yet again: