European officials have warned Donald Trump against threatening “sovereign borders” after the US president-elect refused to rule out military action to conquer Greenland.
Wednesday’s allegations were led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who said the principle of inviolability of borders applies to every country, no matter how powerful it is.
He added that Trump’s comments a day earlier had caused “significant incomprehension” among other European Union leaders he had spoken to.
“Borders must not be moved by force. “This principle applies to every country, whether in the East or the West,” Scholz later wrote on X.
“In discussions with our European partners there is unease in view of the latest statements from the USA. It’s clear: we have to stand together.”
France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot also spoke out on Wednesday, saying that Greenland is “European territory” and that there is “no question that the EU allows other nations in the world, whoever they may be… to be their sovereign states.” Attack borders”.
EU officials, meanwhile, largely tried not to step into the quagmire, although a spokesman confirmed to reporters that Greenland is subject to a mutual defense clause that requires its members to support each other in the event of an attack.
“But we are actually talking about something extremely theoretical that we do not want to go into in detail,” said EU Commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho.
“We need Greenland”
The concern comes after Trump on Tuesday reiterated his desire for the U.S. to take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal, a Latin American waterway over which the U.S. ceded control to Panama in 1999.
Asked by a reporter whether he would rule out using military force or economic coercion to gain that control, Trump replied: “I will not commit to that.”
“We need Greenland for national security reasons,” Trump said later, citing the island’s strategic location in the Arctic, where Russia, China and the United States have fought over control in recent years.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, French government spokeswoman Sophie Primas warned that Trump’s comments contained a “form of imperialism.”
“Today we see the emergence of blocs, we can see this as a form of imperialism, manifested in Mr. Trump’s statements about the annexation of an entire territory,” she said.
“More than ever, we and our European partners need to be aware, move away from a form of naivety, protect and arm ourselves,” she added.
For his part, Greenland Prime Minister Mute Bourup Egede did not comment on the US president-elect’s recent comments. However, Mute, who supports full independence from Denmark, has previously rejected Trump’s previous proposals to buy the island.
Officials in Denmark, meanwhile, struck a more conciliatory tone than their European counterparts.
Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said Copenhagen was “open to dialogue with the Americans about how we can work together, perhaps even more closely than before, to ensure that American ambitions are met.”
However, he also ruled out the island being part of the USA.
“Mexican America”
Europeans weren’t the only ones upset by the sweeping expansionist vision of Trump, who takes office on January 20.
On Wednesday, Canadian Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc condemned the president-elect for repeatedly saying he wants to make Canada the “51st nation.” On Wednesday, Trump said he was prepared to use economic coercion to achieve this.
“The joke is over,” said LeBlanc, who serves as point person for U.S.-Canada relations.
“I think it’s a way for him to sow confusion, to upset people, to create chaos, knowing that something like that will never happen.”
Meanwhile, Mexico responded to Trump’s stated desire to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”
President Claudia Sheinbaum proposed renaming all of North America — including the United States — “Mexican America,” referencing a historic name used on an early map of the region.
“Mexican America, that sounds good,” Sheinbaum chided.
