Denmark “does not appreciate the tone employed” by the American vice-president, the Danish Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday March 29. The day before, visiting the American military base alone in Greenland, JD Vance had strongly criticized the supposed Danish inaction in Greenland.
“We are open to criticism, but, to be completely honest, we do not appreciate the tone on which they were formulated,” said Lars Løkke Rasmussen in an English video on X. “This is not how we addresses his relatives, and I still consider Denmark and the United States as relatives,” he added.
JD VANCE estimated Friday, March 28, that Denmark had “not done a good job for the people of Greenland”, criticizing him in particular for not having invested enough in the immense Arctic island that Donald Trump covets.
“The 1951 Defense Agreement offers many possibilities to have a much stronger military presence in Greenland. If this is what you want, let’s discuss it,” the Danish minister replied in reference to the text governing the American presence in Greenland.
In 1945, the United States had 17 military bases and installations in Greenland, with thousands of soldiers, he recalled. “We can do more, much more in the current setting,” he added. The American Pituffik base is an outpost of the American anti-missile defense, because the shortest trajectory of missiles from Russia to the United States goes through Greenland.
Donald Trump repeated on Friday to “need Greenland, and it is very important, for international security”. His vice-president excluded a use of force to achieve his ends, assuring that he would be able to convince the Greenlanders to join in the United States and to sign an agreement with them.
Greenland has just equipped itself with a new coalition government and the majority of Greenlanders wish the independence of the territory, which enjoys broad autonomy within the Kingdom of Denmark.