Asian Tribune Your Multilingual Newspaper covering World and local news News
Listen to this article
Estimated 3 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
A bipartisan U.S. congressional delegation on Saturday sought to reassure Denmark and Greenland of their support following President Donald Trump’s threat to punish countries with tariffs if they don’t back the U.S. taking over the strategic Arctic island.
Delegation leader Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, said the current rhetoric around Greenland is causing concern across the Danish kingdom, and he wants to de-escalate the situation.
“I hope that the people of the Kingdom of Denmark do not abandon their faith in the American people,” Coons said in Copenhagen, adding that the U.S. has respect for Denmark and NATO “for all we’ve done together.”
Coons gave a news conference on Saturday ahead of rallies planned in Copenhagen and Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, in support of the self-governing island.
Thousands of protesters gathered across Denmark in solidarity with Greenland, demanding that the United States respect Greenlanders’ right to self-determination.
While allied military exercises in Greenland are not unusual, this week’s decision by some NATO allies to send troops in support of Denmark is a message to U.S. President Donald Trump to ‘change his risk calculus,’ says former Canadian ambassador to NATO Kerry Buck. The current tensions within NATO hand a ‘big gift’ to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Buck says.
Coons’ comments contrasted with those emanating from the White House. Trump has sought to justify his calls for a U.S. takeover by repeatedly claiming that China and Russia have their own designs on Greenland, which holds vast untapped reserves of critical minerals.
The White House hasn’t ruled out taking the territory by force, but Coons said, “There are no current security threats to Greenland.”
Trump for months has insisted that the U.S. should control Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, and said earlier this week that anything less than the Arctic island being in U.S. hands would be “unacceptable.”
During an unrelated event at the White House about rural health care on Friday, the president recounted how he had threatened European allies with tariffs on pharmaceuticals.
“I may do that for Greenland, too,” he said. “I may put a tariff on countries if they don’t go along with Greenland, because we need Greenland for national security. So I may do that.”
Trump had not previously mentioned using tariffs to try to force the issue.
CBC News chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton asked The National’s At Issue panel about U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to take Greenland and how Canada should be responding.
Earlier this week, the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met in Washington with U.S. Vice-President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
That encounter didn’t resolve the deep differences but did produce an agreement to set up a working group — on whose purpose Denmark and the White House then offered sharply diverging public views.
European leaders have insisted that only Denmark and Greenland can decide on matters concerning the territory, and Denmark said this week that it was increasing its military presence in Greenland in co-operation with allies.
“There is almost no better ally to the United States than Denmark,” Coons said. “If we do things that cause Danes to question whether we can be counted on as a NATO ally, why would any other country seek to be our ally or believe in our representations?”