Greenland’s party leaders reject Trump calls for US control

Abu Sabet: Greenland’s party leaders on Friday rejected President Trump’s continued push to take over the self-autonomous Arctic territory.

“We don’t want to be Americans, we don’t want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders,” Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and four party leaders said in a statement Friday night, according to The Associated Press.

It comes as the Trump administration continues to float using military force to take over Greenland while also considering purchasing land from Denmark. The U.S. already has a military base there but the White House has said President Trump’s goal is to have more control, citing national security.

“Greenland’s future must be decided by the Greenlandic people,” the territory’s party leaders wrote on Friday.

“As Greenlandic party leaders, we would like to emphasize once again our wish that the United States’ contempt for our country ends,” their statement says.

Trump’s quips about acquiring the island have ignited international concerns about Greenland’s independence and sovereignty from lawmakers in Washington and NATO allies alike.

“Security in the Arctic must therefore be achieved collectively, in conjunction with NATO allies including the United States, by upholding the principles of the UN Charter, including sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders. These are universal principles, and we will not stop defending them…” Frederiksen wrote in a joint Tuesday statement alongside the President Emmanuel Macron of France, Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy, Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of Spain and Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom. “Greenland belongs to its people. It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland,” the statement continues.

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