President Trump says the US will expand into Greenland ‘whether we like it or not’
President Trump said during a meeting with oil executives at the White House that the United States was “going to do something” regarding Greenland.
President Donald Trump has said the United States will seize control of Greenland “the easy way” or “the hard way” and warned Russia and China would not miss the opportunity.
“Whether they like it or not, we are going to do something in Greenland,” he said. He did not say what the price would be for buying the land from Denmark, nor did he say what a potential military action would be.
“I want to get a deal the easy way, but if we can’t get a deal the easy way, we’re going to get a deal the hard way,” Trump said.
He made the comments at a news conference on January 9, during a meeting with some of the world’s top oil companies to discuss investments in Venezuela, just a week after the United States detained leader Nicolás Maduro and took him to New York on drug charges.
President Trump said that if the United States had not expanded into Venezuela to revitalize its oil industry, Russia or China would have done so. He also referred to Venezuela, located in the Western Hemisphere, as a neighboring country.
“By the way, we don’t want Russia or China to go to Greenland. If we don’t occupy Greenland, we’re going to have Russia or China as our neighbor,” Trump said. “That’s not going to happen.”
President Trump said Russian and Chinese destroyers, Russian submarines and large Chinese ships were already anchored outside Greenland.
Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark and is home to approximately 31 billion barrels of oil, about three-quarters of the United States’ reserves. But the territory banned drilling in 2021, citing environmental concerns.
White House aide Stephen Miller questioned Denmark’s right to control Greenland in a Jan. 5 interview with CNN.
