UK sides with Denmark against Trump’s Greenland claim

Prime Minister Keir Starmer denounced the US president’s intention to acquire the island

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has denounced US President Donald Trump’s renewed interest in acquiring Denmark’s self-governing island of Greenland.

Starmer’s remarks came after Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen urged Trump to stop making “threats” against a fellow NATO member.

“Denmark is a close European ally, a close NATO ally. And the future therefore has to be for Greenland, for the Kingdom of Denmark, and only for Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark,” Starmer told Sky News political editor Beth Rigby on Monday, while offering support to Frederiksen.

“I stand with her. She’s right about the future of Greenland,” Starmer added.

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Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper told the House of Commons that the UK will continue to work closely with Denmark on security issues. “The future of Greenland is a matter for the Greenlanders and Danes, and no one else,” she said.

Trump has suggested that the US should control the Arctic island given its strategic location. “We do need Greenland, absolutely,” the president told The Atlantic in an interview published on Sunday, citing competition with the Russian and Chinese navies.

In the past, he has also insisted that the US should annex Canada and reinstate control over the Panama Canal.

Trump restated interest in Greenland shortly after the US invaded Venezuela and abducted its President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, whom he accused of drug trafficking. The military operation has been condemned by the Venezuelan government, as well as by Russia and China.