PARIS (Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday dismissed President-elect Donald Trump’s interest in taking over Greenland, saying it was “obviously not a good” idea and that it would not happen.
Trump on Tuesday reiterated his interest in taking control of Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, and has refused to rule out force to take control of the vast Arctic island. He has said the U.S. needs Greenland for national security reasons.
“I think one of the basic propositions we’ve brought to our work over the last four years is that we’re stronger, we’re more effective, we get better results when we’re working closely with our allies, not saying or doing things that may alienate them,” Blinken told reporters at a press conference in Paris with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot.
“The idea expressed about Greenland is obviously not a good one, but maybe more important, it’s obviously one that’s not going to happen, so we probably shouldn’t waste a lot of time talking about it.”
Denmark’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that Greenland might become independent if its residents wanted this, but is unlikely to become a U.S. state.
Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has signalled he will pursue a foreign policy unbound by diplomatic niceties, also declining to rule out military or economic action as part of his avowed desire to have the U.S. take back control of the Panama Canal and floating the idea of turning Canada into a U.S. state.
In 2019, Trump postponed a scheduled visit to Denmark after Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen rebuffed his idea of the U.S. purchasing Greenland, which was a Danish colony until 1953 and is now a semi-sovereign territory under the Danish realm.
Greenland, part of NATO through the membership of Denmark, has strategic significance for the U.S. military and for its ballistic missile early-warning system, since the shortest route from Europe to North America runs via the Arctic island.
Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede has stated that the island is not for sale and in his New Year speech stepped up a call for independence.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said leaders in Canada, Greenland and Panama had made clear what they thought of Trump’s ideas and the Biden administration was concentrated on other matters. “I think it’s pretty apparent what their views of some of these policy pronouncements are, but it would not be appropriate for us to weigh in and cast judgment,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “We remain focused on issues that we believe are core to our national security.”
(Reporting by Makini Brice, Simon Lewis, Humeyra Pamuk and Daphne Psaledakis; additional reporting by Andrea Shalal and Katharine Jackson; editing by Kevin Liffey and Mark Heinrich)
