Politics
U.S. President Donald Trump believes that the Danish government has agreed to hand control of Greenland over to Washington. Speaking at a rally for Republican Party supporters in Georgia ahead of the November 3 midterm elections, he said, “
U.S. President Donald Trump believes that the Danish government has agreed to hand control of Greenland over to Washington. Speaking at a rally for Republican Party supporters in Georgia ahead of the November 3 midterm elections, he said, “By the way, Denmark was very nice. They gave us Greenland.”
President Trump emphasized, “This will be the biggest real estate deal in history, perhaps after Venezuela.” He was referring to an agreement he signed in September with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen. The agreement reportedly includes transferring responsibility for ensuring the security of the Arctic island to Washington.
President Trump added, “We got both of them for free,” referring to Greenland and Venezuela. Trump had previously said that Washington was taking temporary control of Venezuela. On January 3, the United States attacked civilian and military targets in Venezuela, arrested President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and took them out of the country. Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, who served as executive vice president under Maduro, is currently acting as Venezuela’s head of state.
Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark. In 1951, Washington and Copenhagen signed the Greenland Defense Agreement in addition to their commitments under the NATO alliance. Under the agreement, the United States assumed responsibility for defending the island against potential aggression.
