COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump suggested Friday that he could punish countries with tariffs if they do not support U.S. control of Greenland, a message that came as a bipartisan congressional delegation sought to ease tensions in the Danish capital.
Trump has insisted for months that the US should control Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, and said earlier this week that anything other than the Arctic island in US hands would be “unacceptable”.
During an unrelated White House event on rural health care, he recounted Friday how he threatened European allies with pharmaceutical tariffs.
“I can do that for Greenland, too,” Trump said. “I might put a tariff on countries if they don’t agree with Greenland, because we need Greenland for national security. So I can do that,” he said.
He has not previously mentioned using tariffs to try to force the issue.
Earlier this week, the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met in Washington this week with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
That meeting did not resolve the deep differences, but it did produce an agreement to establish a working group – to which Denmark and the White House then offered sharply divergent public views.
European leaders have insisted that only Denmark and Greenland should decide on matters concerning the territory, and Denmark said this week that it is increasing its military presence in Greenland in cooperation with allies.
A Relationship We “Must Cultivate”
In Copenhagen, a group of senators and members of the House of Representatives met on Friday with Danish and Greenlandic lawmakers and leaders, including Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
The leader of the delegation, Sen. Chris Coons, D-Delaware, thanked the panel’s hosts for “225 years of being a good and trusted ally and partner” and said “we had a strong, robust dialogue about how we extend it going forward.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, said after the meeting with lawmakers that the visit reflected a strong relationship spanning decades and “is one that we need to nurture.” She told reporters that “Greenland needs to be seen as our ally, not as an asset, and I think that’s what you’re hearing with this delegation.”
The tone contrasted with that emanating from the White House. Trump has tried to justify his calls for a US takeover by repeatedly claiming that China and Russia have their own projects in Greenland, which holds vast untapped reserves of critical minerals. The White House has not ruled out taking the territory by force.
“We’ve heard so many lies, let’s be honest, and so much exaggeration about threats to Greenland,” said Aaja Chemnitz, a Greenlandic politician and member of the Danish parliament who attended Friday’s meetings. “And especially, I would say the threats we’re seeing now are from the US.”
Murkowski emphasized the role of Congress in spending and in getting messages to voters.
“I think it’s important to point out that when you ask the American people whether or not they think it’s a good idea for the United States to acquire Greenland, the vast majority, about 75 percent, will say, we don’t think it’s a good idea,” she said.
Along with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-New Hampshire, Murkowski introduced bipartisan legislation that would prohibit the use of U.S. Defense or State Department funds to annex or take control of Greenland or the sovereign territory of any NATO member state without that ally’s consent or authorization from the North Atlantic Council.
Inuit council criticizes White House statements
The dispute looms large in the lives of Greenlanders. Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said on Tuesday that “if we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark. We choose NATO. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU.”
The president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council in Nuuk, Greenland, which represents about 180,000 Inuit from Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Russia’s Chukotka region on international issues, said the White House’s persistent statements that the US must own Greenland give “a clear picture of how the US administration views the people of Greenland, how the US administration views the few people and indigenous people”.
Sara Olsvig told The Associated Press in Nuuk that the issue is “how one of the world’s greatest powers views other peoples who are less powerful than they are. And that’s really worrying.”
Greenland’s indigenous Inuit do not want to be colonized again, she said.
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Superville reported from Washington. Emma Burrows in Nuuk, Greenland and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.