Denmark’s prime minister is telling President Donald Trump to stop threatening Greenland.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Sunday that the U.S. has “no right to annex” Greenland, a semiautonomous Danish territory, according to The New York Times.
“I would therefore strongly urge the United States to stop the threats against a historically close ally,” she said in a statement, adding that Greenlanders “have said very clearly that they are not for sale.”
The prime minister of Greenland also weighed in.
He wrote on social media that Trump’s rhetoric was “utterly unacceptable.”
Trump has repeatedly raised the idea of Greenland becoming part of the United States since returning to office last year.
He spoke about the possibility again in the wake of a U.S. military operation in Venezuela that ousted the country’s leader, Nicolas Maduro.
The U.S. action in Venezuela raised fears among some that Trump could move more aggressively against Greenland.
“We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security and Denmark is not going to be able to do it, I can tell you,” Trump said Sunday on Air Force One, according to CNBC.
The remarks sent Denmark into “full crisis mode.”
Greenland is rich in minerals and strategically located between Europe and North America, CNBC noted. Opinion polls have shown that Greenlanders support independence from Denmark, but oppose U.S. control.
Greenland Prime Minister Jens Frederik Nielsen called the idea of U.S. control a “fantasy,” according to the BBC.
“No more pressure. No more insinuations. No more fantasies of annexation. We are open to dialogue,” he said. “We are open to discussions. But this must happen through the proper channels and with respect for international law.”