Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the United States likely will not take over Greenland anytime soon, referring to recent comments made by President-elect Donald Trump expressing interest in controlling the island.
“The idea expressed about Greenland is obviously not a good one, but maybe more important, it’s obviously one that’s not going to happen, so we probably shouldn’t waste a lot of time talking about it,” Blinken said during a press conference in Paris on Wednesday.
When he was pressed on Trump’s remarks about the United States acquiring Greenland from Denmark, Blinken stressed the need for allies.
“I think one of the basic propositions we brought to our work over the last four years is that we’re stronger, we’re more effective, we get better results when we’re working closely with our allies, not saying or doing things that may alienate them,” he told reporters.
Greenland, located to the northeast of the United States, is an autonomous territory under the domain of Denmark. Citizens of the territory are considered citizens of Denmark and the European Union.
In a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, Trump did not rule out using the U.S. military to acquire Greenland and the Panama Canal.
“I’m not going to commit to that,” Trump said. “It might be that you have to do something.”
This week, his son Donald Trump Jr. took a trip to Greenland to shoot video as part of a podcast.
Denmark’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that Greenland can become independent if its residents want it but that it likely won’t become a U.S. state, as Greenland’s leader met with the Danish king in Copenhagen on the day.
“We fully recognize that Greenland has its own ambitions. If they materialize, Greenland will become independent, though hardly with an ambition to become a federal state in the United States,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said.
He did not say whether he believed that Greenland would become a territory of the United States, only commenting on whether it could become a state.
He told reporters that the United States has significant security concerns in the Arctic, which he signaled were legitimate, due to higher Chinese and Russian activity in the region in recent years.
“I don’t think that we’re in a foreign policy crisis,” Rasmussen said. “We are open to a dialogue with the Americans on how we can possibly cooperate even more closely than we do to ensure that the American ambitions are fulfilled.”
Greenlandic Prime Minister Mute Egede has said that Greenland is not for sale, in response to Trump’s comments.
“Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom,” he said in a statement in late December 2024.
Trump, while commenting on Greenland, announced he had chosen Ken Howery to be his ambassador to Denmark.
“For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
The president-elect, who will be inaugurated on Jan. 20, said on Tuesday that the United States also needs to reassert control over the Panama Canal, a structure it built in the early part of the 20th century. He said that the canal’s control is a matter of national security and that Chinese companies control parts of it now.
“The Panama Canal is vital to our country,” he said. “It’s being operated by China—China!—and we gave the Panama Canal to Panama, we didn’t give it to China. They’ve abused that gift.”
Reuters contributed to this report.