US President Donald Trump is calling on Greenland to make an agreement with the United States.
He also says that NATO needs the United States more than the United States needs NATO.
This happens on board the presidential plane Air Force One, according to an audio recording from the plane that the White House has shared on YouTube.
Here, Trump is asked by a journalist whether the United States has made an actual offer of Greenland to Denmark.
- I haven't done that. But Greenland should make an agreement. Because Greenland doesn't want to see Russia or China take over, he says.
- Two dog sleds
Trump also claims that Greenland's defense essentially consists of two dog sleds.
- Did you know? Two dog sleds. In the meantime, you have Russian destroyers and submarines and Chinese destroyers and submarines all over the place. We're not going to let that happen.
"And if it affects NATO, it affects NATO. But they need us much more than we need them," the president says.
A journalist aboard Air Force One mentions to Trump that Britain and Germany are discussing plans for a joint NATO mission to protect Arctic security in Greenland.
On Sunday, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources, that Germany will propose that such a joint NATO mission be established.
The journalist asks Trump if it changes anything in his assessment of the situation.
- No, listen. We're talking about acquiring it (Greenland, ed.), not about having it in the short term. We're talking about acquiring it. And if we don't do it, Russia or China will do it, and that's not going to happen when I'm president.
Needs ownership
Trump emphasizes on board the plane that the United States already has military bases in Greenland.
Asked whether more will come, he says he can send a lot of soldiers to Greenland right away if he wants to.
- But you need more than that. You ultimately need the ownership ("You need more than that. You really need the title," ed.), says Trump.
On Friday, all five parties in Greenland's parliament, Inatsisartut, issued a joint statement, in which it was once again stated that they do not want to be part of the United States.
At the same time, Denmark and six major countries from the defense alliance said earlier last week that no one other than Denmark and Greenland has the right to make decisions about Greenland's future.
This was stated in a statement that, in addition to Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (S), was written by the leaders of, among others, Great Britain and Germany.
On Sunday, she said at a party leadership debate that "we are at a crossroads, and it is a fateful moment."
- If you turn your back on NATO cooperation by threatening an ally - something you have never experienced before - everything stops. And I mean that, said Mette Frederiksen.
/ritzau/
