Macron visits Greenland and criticizes Trump's threats to take it over
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Macron paid a visit to Greenland on Sunday, on his way to the G7 conference in Kananaskis, Alta. He became the first foreign leader to visit the region since Trump's recent talk of annexation, and was openly critical of those plans.
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Reuters reports that, when asked on his arrival about Trump's ambitions, Macron said: 'I don't think that's what allies do … it's important that Denmark and the Europeans commit themselves to this territory, which has very high strategic stakes and whose territorial integrity must be respected.'
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In a speech that was received by cheers and applause from locals, Macron said: 'Everybody thinks in France, in the European Union, that Greenland is not to be sold, not to be taken.' He added: 'The situation in Greenland is clearly a wake-up call for all the Europeans. And let me tell you very directly that you are not alone.'
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Referring to Greenland as a part of Europe, he said: 'We know our common flag and we know our long-standing choices, and this is why it's very important for French people and all the European people to convey very clearly this message of solidarity and the fact that we stand with you, now, for today, and for tomorrow.'
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A source at the Élysée Palace told Reuters that Macron's trip had a 'dimension of European solidarity and one of strengthening sovereignty and territorial integrity,' without directly mentioning the Trump administration's threats to purchase Greenland, or take it by force.
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Additionally, the source said the French president's six-hour visit would focus on Arctic security, climate change and Greenland's economic development, and would include a tour of a glacier, a hydroelectric power station and a Danish warship moored near the territory's capital, Nuuk.
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But since his re-election, he has been more bellicose in his musings. This month, U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth seemed to acknowledge that the Pentagon had contingency plans to take Greenland and also Panama by force if necessary, telling a congressional hearing: 'Our job … is to have plans for any contingency.'
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That said, U.S. designs on the world's largest island can be traced back over more than a century. U.S. senator William Henry Seward, who oversaw the purchase of Alaska in the 1860s, had a similar plan to buy Greenland from Denmark, going so far as to write that its incorporation into America would 'flank British America for thousands of miles … and greatly increase her inducements, peacefully and cheerfully, to become a part of the American Union.'
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