Trump says 'we have to have' Greenland, ahead of Vance trip

TDT | Manama

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US President Donald Trump ramped up his claims to Greenland on Wednesday, saying ahead of a visit by Vice President JD Vance that the United States needed to take control of the Danish island.

"We need Greenland for international safety and security. We need it. We have to have it," Trump told podcaster Vince Coglianese. "I hate to put it that way, but we're going to have to have it." Vance is to accompany his wife Usha on Friday to the Pituffik Space Base in Greenland.Since returning to power in January, Trump has insisted he wants to take over Greenland for national security purposes, refusing to rule out the use of force to do so. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland's outgoing Prime Minister Mute Egede harshly criticized plans by a US delegation to visit the Arctic island uninvited.

A self-governing territory that is seeking to emancipate itself from Copenhagen, Greenland holds massive untapped mineral and oil reserves, though oil and uranium exploration are banned.

It is also strategically located between North America and Europe at a time of rising US, Chinese and Russian interest in the Arctic, where sea lanes have opened up because of climate change.