The president of the United States, Donald Trump, assured this Thursday that in approximately two weeks the reaction of the Danish authorities to the plan agreed with NATO in Davos (Switzerland) to resolve the situation around Greenland, an island that the president has in his sights for reasons of national security, will be known.
When asked by journalists aboard Air Force One if Copenhagen agrees with the concepts agreed upon the day before between Trump and the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance, Mark Rutte, the American president responded: “I think everyone likes it (the pre-agreement)… I will tell you in about two weeks.”
“We can do what we want, we can go military, we can do what we want, and it’s being negotiated, and we’ll see what happens. I think it will be good,” Trump added, suggesting that one possibility is to expand the presence of permanent US military bases in the frozen territory controlled by the Danish crown.
Since returning to power a year ago, Trump has said that Greenland is indispensable for US security in the face of the growing interest of Russia and China in the Arctic region and went so far as to say that Washington would annex it “by hook or by crook” before assuring this Wednesday in Davos that he has no intention of using force to take over the island.
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The Republican did not want to offer more details about this framework agreement about which little is known, which could grant the US rights to mineral resources on the island and which, according to Rutte, does not affect the sovereignty of Greenland.
“We’re all going to work together. And in fact, NATO will participate with us. We’re going to do some parts together with NATO, which is really how it should be,” Trump limited himself to saying today.
“We have many good things in the agreement, and don’t forget that they are also good for Europe. Because, you know, when things go well for us, they do well too, and if things don’t go well for us, that’s not very good for them. Because we keep everything together,” said the president.
Last weekend Trump threatened to impose tariffs on eight European countries that sent troops to Greenland and had been against the US purchasing the territory, but yesterday he ruled out using the tariffs when announcing the principle of agreement with Rutte.
Anonymous officials cited today by The New York Times suggest that the future agreement could result in something similar to the status of two British military bases in Cyprus that have remained under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom since the island’s independence in 1960.
With information from EFE
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