US control of Greenland ‘vital’ for air defense

US President Donald Trump yesterday insisted the US needs to take control of Greenland, with Nato’s support, just hours before crunch talks about the Arctic island with top Danish, Greenlandic and US officials.

Just hours before the meeting with US Vice President JD Vance was due to start, Trump said that US control of Greenland -- an autonomous territory belonging to Nato ally Denmark -- was “vital” for his planned Golden Dome air and missile defense system.

“Nato becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES. Anything less than that is unacceptable,” he wrote on social media.

He said Nato “should be leading the way” in building the multi-layer missile defense system. “IF WE DON’T, RUSSIA OR CHINA WILL, AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!” Trump wrote.

Just prior, Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen had sought to ease US concerns about security in Greenland, telling AFP Denmark was boosting its military presence there and was in talks with allies on “an increased Nato presence in the Arctic.”

Trump has repeatedly threatened to take over the vast, strategic and sparsely populated Arctic island, and he has sounded emboldened since ordering a deadly January 3 attack in Venezuela that removed its president.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart were to hold talks later yesterday in Washington with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance.

Lokke said he was hoping to “clear up certain misunderstandings.” But it remains to be seen if the Trump administration also sees a misunderstanding and if it wants to climb down.

Trump, when asked Tuesday about Greenland’s leader saying that the island prefers to remain part of Denmark, said: “Well that’s their problem.”

“Don’t know anything about him, but that’s going to be a big problem for him,” Trump said.

Trump said on Friday that he wanted Greenland “whether they like it or not” and “if we don’t do it the easy way, we’re going to do it the hard way.”

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an attack on a Nato ally would end the alliance.