President Trump further pressed his case on Monday for why the U.S. wants to take control of Greenland, describing the island as vital for American security and making a bizarre claim that the U.S. was exploring Greenland 300 years ago.
“We need it for national protection,” the president said during a press conference in Florida, a day after he appointed a new U.S. envoy to the semi-autonomous Danish territory, infuriating local officials.
Trump went on to say that the U.S. wasn’t seeking to extract Greenland’s mineral wealth, but rather that he wants to use the island to help counter the influence of Russia and China, nations he accused of having ships in the region.
“They say that Denmark was there 300 years ago or something with a boat,” Trump added. “Well, we were there with boats too, I’m sure. So we’ll have to work it all out.”
(The Inuit have lived in Greenland for thousands of years, and Europeans made contact with the island in the late 10th century. The U.S. would not play a major role in exploring the area around Greenland until the late 19th century.)
He also falsely claimed Denmark wasn’t supporting the island, even though in September it pledged a multi-year, $253 million investment package for Greenland.
Over the weekend, Trump announced that Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry will serve as a special envoy to the island territory, which the president has frequently expressed interest in taking control of throughout his time in office.
The announcement, which followed months of quiet after a flurry of pressure early in Trump’s term, prompted an angry response from officials in Greenland and Denmark.
“We have said it before. Now, we say it again: national borders and the sovereignty of states are rooted in international law,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and her Greenlandic counterpart, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said in a joint statement. “They are fundamental principles. You cannot annex another country. Not even with an argument about international security.”
Denmark has also summoned the U.S. ambassador to Copenhagen.
As recently as October, the Trump administration’s interest in Greenland seemed to be dying down.
“Right now it seems far away. There is perhaps a feeling that we can breathe a sigh of relief,” Prime Minister Frederiksen said during a session of the Danish parliament at the time. “It is my belief that we cannot.”
Early in his term, Trump was putting a full-court press on Greenland.
In March, Vice President JD Vance visited a U.S. base there, the same month the president said he wouldn’t rule out using force to take the island.
Tensions escalated further in May, when news reports claimed the U.S. was intensifying spying efforts in Greenland, prompting Denmark to say it would summon the U.S. ambassador for clarification.
