Minister says there ‘are no threats on the table, there is no trade war with Europe’
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen (C), Canada’s Foreign Minister Anita Anand (L) and Greenland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Motzfeldt attend a joint press conference in Nuuk. Photo: AFP
NUUK:
Denmark’s foreign minister said Saturday his country is now in a better position in regards to US President Donald Trump’s desire to acquire Greenland — an autonomous Danish territory — but stressed the crisis is not yet resolved.
“We are not out of the crisis, and we do not have a solution yet,” Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told reporters in Greenland’s capital Nuuk, while adding: “We are in a much better position now, compared to a few weeks ago.”
The minister added that there “are no threats on the table, there is no trade war with Europe” and that everyone agreed the situation should be worked out in a “normal diplomatic way”.
Since returning to the White House last year, Trump has insisted that Washington needs to control the strategic Arctic island for security reasons.
He last month backed off threats to seize Greenland after striking a “framework” deal with NATO chief Mark Rutte to ensure greater US influence.
A US-Denmark-Greenland working group has been established to discuss Washington’s security concerns in the Arctic, but details have not been made public.
Greenland’s foreign minister Vivian Motzfeldt, who spoke alongside Lokke Rasmussen, welcomed that the parties were now in “direct dialogue,” and added that the talks were respectful.
“But we are not where we want to be yet,” she stressed and said it was “too early” to say where the talks would lead.
While Denmark and Greenland have said they share Trump’s security concerns, they have insisted that sovereignty and territorial integrity are a “red line” in the discussions.
