You cannot annex other countries, Danish and Greenlandic leaders tell Trump

The prime ministers of Denmark and Greenland have demanded respect for their borders after Donald Trump appointed a special envoy to the largely self-governing Danish territory, which he has said repeatedly should be under US control. Jens-Frederik Nielsen (left) with Mette Frederiksen in April. ‘Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders,’ they said on Monday.Photograph: Mads Claus Rasmussen/AP “We have said it very clearly before. Now we say it again. National borders and the sovereignty of states are rooted in international law ... You cannot annex other countries,” Mette Frederiksen and Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a joint statement . The two leaders added that “fundamental principles” were at stake. “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders, and the US should not take over Greenland ,” they said. “We expect respect for our common territorial integrity.” Trump on Sunday appointed the governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, as US special envoy to the vast, mineral-rich Arctic island. The US president has on several occasions said the US needs to acquire Greenland for security reasons, while refusing to rule out the use of force. The US president wrote on social media: “Jeff understands how essential Greenland is to our National Security, and will strongly advance our Country’s Interests for the Safety, Security, and Survival of our Allies, and indeed, the World,.” Landry, a former state attorney general who took office as Louisiana governor in January 2024, thanked Trump, saying it was “an honour to serve you in this volunteer position to make Greenland a part of the US”. Denmark’s foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, told Danish television on Monday he would summon Washington’s ambassador to Copenhagen, Ken Howery , to the ministry in the coming days “to get an explanation”. Rasmussen said he was “deeply upset by this appointment of a special envoy”, and “particularly upset” by Landry’s statement, which he said Denmark had found “completely unacceptable”. He added: “As long as we have a kingdom in Denmark that consists of Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Greenland, we cannot accept that there are those who undermine our sovereignty.” An EU spokesperson, Anouar El Anouni, said in Brussels that the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Kingdom of Denmark were “essential”, while Denmark’s Nordic counterparts, Sweden and Norway, expressed their full support. Sweden “will always stand guard over international law”, the Swedish foreign minister, Maria Malmer Stenergard, said. Her Norwegian counterpart, Espen Barth Eide, said Oslo “stands 100% behind Denmark”. He said it was clear that the appointment underscored Trump’s intention to make Greenland part of the US. “The purpose of this job, which Jeff Landry is to perform, is to make Greenland American,” Barth Eide said. The vast majority of Greenland’s 57,000 inhabitants want to become independent from Denmark but have no wish to become part of the US, according to a poll in January . The territory has had the right to declare independence since 2009. Frederiksen said in a social media post that Denmark’s “ally of a lifetime” was putting it in “a difficult situation”....

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