Spanish
Washington.- U.S. President Donald Trump assured this Thursday that in approximately two weeks the reaction of the Danish authorities to the plan agreed with NATO in Davos (Switzerland) to solve the situation around Greenland, an island that the president has in his sights for reasons of national security, will be known.
When asked by journalists aboard Air Force One if Copenhagen agrees with the concepts agreed upon the previous day between Trump and the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance, Mark Rutte, the American president replied: "I think everyone likes it (the pre-agreement)... I'll tell you in about two weeks."
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"We can do whatever we want, we can opt for the military, we can do whatever we want, and it's being negotiated, and we'll see what happens. I think it will be good," added Trump, suggesting that one possibility is to expand the presence of permanent US military bases in the icy territory controlled by the Danish crown. Since he returned to power a year ago, Trump has said that Greenland is indispensable for U.S. security in the face of growing interest from Russia and China in the Arctic region and went so far as to say that Washington would annex it "by hook or by crook" before assuring this Wednesday in Davos that he has no intention of using force to take over the island. The Republican did not want to offer more details about that framework agreement, of which little is known, which could grant the U.S. rights over mineral resources on the island and which, according to Rutte, does not affect Greenland's sovereignty. "We are going to work all together. And in fact, NATO will participate with us. We are going to do some parts together with NATO, which is really how it should be," Trump limited himself to saying today. "We have many good things in the agreement, and don't forget that they are also good for Europe. Because, you know, when we do well, they also do well, and if we don't do well, that's not very good for them. Because we keep everything together," the president stated. Last weekend, Trump threatened to impose tariffs on eight European countries that sent troops to Greenland and had opposed the US buying the territory, but yesterday he ruled out using the levies when announcing the agreement in principle with Rutte. Anonymous officials cited today by The New York Times suggest that the future agreement could result in something similar to the status of two British military bases in Cyprus, which have remained under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom since the island's independence in 1960.
