THIS is the moment President Donald Trump insists the US will take over Greenland “one way or the other” – and promises a wealthy future for its people.
In February, Nato countries held secret talks over deploying troops to Greenland in response to Trump’s previous threats to seize the island from Denmark.
The Republican continues to press for control of the territory due to its strategic location and mineral resources– but Denmark has consistently said the island is not for sale.
In his first address to Congress of his second term, Trump painted a picture of wealth and safety for Greenland’s “incredible people” – and insisted that the US will take it.
The President stressed that the US needed Greenland for “international world security”.
The autonomous country lies along the shortest route from Europe to North America which is key for the US ballistic missile warning system.
In a direct address to the 56,000 Greenland population, Trump said his administration “strongly support your right to determine your own future, and if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America”.
But he was quick to change his tune on Greenland’s autonomy, adding his team were “working with everybody involved” to take the country, before sharing his beliefs that the US would eventually “get it”.
He gloated to laughing Republicans in the House of Representatives chamber: “I think we’re going to get it, one way or the other, we’re gonna get it.”
Trump also promised a shower of riches to Greenland people, alongside security.
He added: “We will keep you safe, we will make you rich, and together, we will take Greenland to heights like you have never thought possible before.
“It’s a very small population, a very, very large piece of land, and very, very important for military security.”
Diplomatic sources told The Telegraph in February that Germany was among the dozens of European nations holding informal talks over “what Nato troops would do” if Trump followed through on his threats.
One of the questions that was discussed was also whether Article 5, the Western military alliance’s mutual defence clause, could be invoked in case of an American invasion of another Nato state.
Most Greenlanders oppose joining the US, but the majority are in favor of eventual independence from Denmark, opinion polls suggest.
Trump has consistently refused to rule out using military force to seize the island.
And he previously boasted that the people of Greenland wanted to be part of the US.
“I think the people want to be with us,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on January 25.
Trump had also been putting pressure on Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen despite reportedly being told to “f**k off” by the Danes.
The Arctic is increasingly the object of a struggle between international superpowers.
Russia and China have both ramped up efforts to take control of the region, and concerns exist that America has been caught off guard.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also defended Trump’s goals with the island as he highlighted a 1951 treaty that promised to defend the island in the event of an attack.
“If we’re already on the hook for having to do that, then we might as well have more control over what happens there,” Rubio said on The Megyn Kelly Show in January.
“This is not a joke,” he added.
“This is not about acquiring land for the purpose of acquiring land. This is in our national interest and it needs to be solved.”
ISLE TAKE THAT!
EXCLUSIVE by Patrick Harrington, Foreign News Reporter
Trump could storm Greenland and claim it within 24 hours in the “world’s shortest war”, analysts have revealed.
If Trump did invade, America’s military would end the war in a day, politics professor Anthony Glees told The Sun.
Glees said Trump will be surrounded by “people who think he is great” – and it means he will be able to go ahead with any wild ideas he has.
Glees said: “In other words, we have to take him seriously.
“And if Trump wanted to take Greenland by force, he could do it in 24 hours.”
Ulrik Pram Gad, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, told Politico that “there is no defensive capacity in Greenland”.
And it means it would be “the shortest war in the world”.
The conflict would present an “unchartered” situation after the US entered a pact with Denmark in 1951 to defend Greenland against any attack.
The US has a nuclear base on the island that is constantly manned by troops.
Kristian Søby Kristensen, a military researcher at the University of Copenhagen, said: “Who would the Americans be fighting? Their own military?”
Glees said it was likely that, in the event of a US invasion, “there would be no military response to it because it is unthinkable that any Nato member would attack the US”.
Trump’s eyeing up of Greenland has boosted the country’s independence movement, with talks called for secession with Denmark.
But Greenland’s ruling party, Inuit Ataqatigiit, stressed that it’s in no rush for an independence vote after a March 11 general election, predominantly due to economic and welfare fears.
Denmark’s UN Ambassador Christina Markus Lassen reiterated on Monday: “The future of Greenland is really for the people of Greenland to decide.
“Independence is possible and they have the right to self-determination.”
Lassen added that Denmark agreed with Trump that further strengthening security around the Arctic had to be looked into further, which is “something we’ve been working together with Nato and the U.S. on for a while.”
She said: “We have a very close transatlantic bond with the United States.
“We’ve been working very closely with the US on security matters related to Greenland and the Arctic for decades.”
FROM GREENLAND TO ‘RED-WHITE-AND-BLUELAND’
Trump has been pushed to rename Greenland to Red, White and Blueland and enter negotiations to seize the icy island.
The Republican congressman who proposed the idea added that the Danish territory was a “national security priority”.
Georgia Republican Buddy Carter, 67, unveiled a new legislation in February to encourage Trump to start negotiations to “purchase or otherwise acquire” Greenland.
“America is back and will soon be bigger than ever with the addition of Red, White, and Blueland,” Carter told the New York Post.
The Red, White, and Blueland Act of 2025 would require the secretary of the interior’s team to update federal paperwork with the new name for Greenland.
This department would have just six months to complete the drastic update.
“President Trump has correctly identified the purchase of what is now Greenland as a national security priority, and we will proudly welcome its people to join the freest nation to ever exist when our Negotiator-in-Chief inks this monumental deal,” Carter added.
