Donald Trump expressed confidence on Thursday that the United States would annex Greenland as he met Nato secretary general Mark Rutte for talks at the Oval Office.
“I think that will happen,” Mr Trump told reporters during the White House.
Greenland’s pro-business opposition Demokraatit party, which wants a slow approach to independence from Denmark, won Tuesday’s parliamentary election. Mr Trump said that election was good for the US. Denmark has said Greenland is not for sale.
The outgoing prime minister of Greenland said on Thursday he would summon the leaders of all parties to sharpen their joint rejection of Mr Trump’s bid.
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“The US president has once again aired the thought of annexing us,” Mute Egede said in a post on Facebook.
“Enough is enough,” he added.
Mr Trump also said on Thursday he still has a good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, with whom he held several summits during his first term, and referred to North Korea once again as a “nuclear power”.
Asked by reporters whether he had plans to re-establish relations with Mr Kim, Mr Trump said: “I have a great relationship with Kim Jong-un, and we’ll see what happens, but certainly he’s a nuclear power.”
On January 20th, when he was inaugurated for his second term, Mr Trump said North Korea was a “nuclear power”, raising questions about whether he would pursue arms reduction talks rather than denuclearisation negotiations in any re-engagement with Pyongyang.
Addressing global security challenges, Mr Rutte said Nato members needed to produce more weapons and were lagging behind Russia and China.
Speaking alongside Mr Trump, Mr Rutte said the alliance was not doing enough on the issue of weapons production.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump’s nominee to be the US ambassador in Ottawa said on Thursday he views Canada as an independent nation, pledging to respect its sovereignty amid a global trade war and hostile rhetoric that has roiled diplomatic relations.
“Canada is a sovereign state, yes,” Peter Hoekstra told his Senate confirmation hearing, when Democratic senator Chris Coons of Delaware asked if he agreed Canada is a sovereign state and should not be even jokingly referred to as the 51st state.
Mr Hoekstra, a former Republican House of Representatives member from Michigan, is expected to be confirmed, as are Ronald Johnson as ambassador to Mexico and George Glass as ambassador to Japan.
All three testified at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing far more conciliatory than current rhetoric surrounding US relations with Canada and Mexico. All three nominees also served as US ambassadors during Mr Trump’s first time.
“We have a great history of working together,” Mr Hoekstra said, although he stressed Mr Trump’s interest in “freer, fairer trade”, which he said would strengthen Canadian businesses.
Canada, Mexico and Japan are three of the United States’ top five trading partners.
Mr Johnson said he was interested in increasing the US-Mexican trade relationship but did not rule out unilateral US military action in Mexico if US citizens were in danger.
“Should there be a case where the lives of US citizens are at risk, I think all cards are on the table,” Mr Johnson said.
Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum has said any such operations would violate the country’s sovereignty.
Mr Trump has threatened steep tariffs against a wide range of imported goods, prompting threats of retaliatory duties in a trade war that has roiled financial markets and raised recession fears.
Mr Trump has also suggested that the United States should annex Canada, referring to it repeatedly as a US state.
Mr Trump also has mused about the alliance with Japan, saying it obliged the US to defend Japan but not vice versa, while Tokyo makes money on its US ties.
Mr Glass said Washington will “undoubtedly” have to ask Japan for an increase in its financial contribution for the upkeep of US forces there, referring to an agreement due to be renegotiated in 2027.
Mr Glass said Japan was home to 60,000 US troops and Tokyo had been providing support for the US military there of about $1.4 billion a year, while the sophistication of Chinese forces had grown and the cost of pushing back against Beijing had become “significantly more expensive”.
“Whether we have weapons systems that we need to upgrade, command-and-control that we’re going to be upgrading along with the Japanese, these are very expensive ventures,” he said.
“And so undoubtedly, I do believe we’re going to have to go to the Japanese and talk about an increase in that support.”
Mr Glass said the relationship between the allies was “at an apex ... an all-time high,” and referred to a summit between Mr Trump and Japanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba at which the two sides committed to pursue a new golden age of relations.
Mr Glass said there was currently a delivery backlog of $50 billion worth of US military equipment ordered by Japan and this needed to be resolved quickly. – Reuters
