Former United States Ambassador to Denmark Carla Sands is urging the country’s leaders to shift their strategy for dealing with President Donald Trump regarding his interest in the island of Greenland or face dire consequences.
‘We’ll see how things go. But the smartest thing would be to try to work out a deal,’ Sands said in an interview with DailyMail.com’s MAGAland podcast on Monday.
Greenland is a territory of Denmark, but as a NATO ally the island depends on the United States for security.
Sands, a former United States Ambassador to Denmark said she that when she took the job for the Trump administration, she was told that 80 percent of her time would be spent on the delicate situation in Greenland.
She said that Denmark leaders were taking the wrong approach with Trump, by choosing to be combative.
The island does not ‘belong to anyone else,’ Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said.
Nielson, who took office after last week’s elections, made it clear Greenland will stand against Trump.
But Trump’s former ambassador says that’s the wrong move.
‘Here’s the Prime Minister, not working with President Trump, but trying to go to war with President Trump,’ she told DailyMail.com.
Former United States Ambassador to Denmark Carla Sands
‘I just don’t understand what that government is thinking. They were very combative when I was there, certainly.’
The United States is taking greater interest in Greenland, as Russia and China working to find a foothold in the territory. The island has significant mineral resources and is strategically valuable for because of it’s physical location in the northern hemisphere.
America has long been interested in acquiring Greenland but no modern president has made it as big of a priority in recent years than President Donald Trump.
‘We’ll get Greenland. Yeah, 100 percent,’ Trump told NBC News on Saturday.
Trump is exploiting the existing tensions between Denmark and Greenland, as the island wants more independence from their European owners.
Vice President JD Vance traveled to a United States military base in Greenland on Friday, criticizing Denmark and urging Greenland to declare its independence.
‘What we think is going to happen is that the Greenlanders are going to choose through self-determination to become independent of Denmark, and then we’re going to have conversations with the people of Greenland from there,’ he previewed.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrives to board Air Force Two after touring the U.S. military’s Pituffik Space Base in Greenland
Jens Frederik Nielsen, leader of the Democrats, addresses the crowd as around 1,000 Greenlanders gather
Sands agreed that the relationship between Denmark and Greenland was not very good, prompting Greenlanders to explore the possibility of independence.
‘There’s so much tension between Denmark and Greenland,’ she said, describing Denmark’s treatment of Greenland ‘frankly cruel’ over generations.
Sands also said that Denmark did not have the wealth or resources to develop the island’s economic potential or protect its citizens.
‘Denmark owns an asset they can’t afford. You can’t own things you can’t afford,’ Sands said. ‘President Trump is right in what he’s saying. He says it in his own way.’
But even though Greenlanders are not fans of their Denmark rulers, many of them are not keen on joining the United States,
The newly elected Prime Minister of Greenland Jens-Frederik Nielsen, who was sworn in on Friday, warned Trump Monday that Greenland is not up for grabs.
‘President Trump says that the United States “will get Greenland.” Let me be clear: The United States will not get it. We do not belong to anyone else. We decide our own future,’ Nielsen wrote in a Facebook post on Monday.