US will not get Greenland, says territory’s prime minister

The prime minister of Greenland has pushed back against assertions by Donald Trump that the US will take control of the island territory.

Greenland, a huge, resource-rich island in the Atlantic, is a self-governing territory of Denmark, a Nato ally of the US.

The US president wants to annex the territory, claiming it is needed for national security purposes.

“President Trump says that the United States ‘will get Greenland.’ Let me be clear: The United States will not get it. We do not belong to anyone else. We decide our own future,” Jens-Frederik Nielsen wrote in a Facebook post.

It came a day after the president told NBC News that military force was not off the table with regard to acquiring Greenland.

In Saturday’s interview, Mr Trump said: “I think there’s a good possibility that we could do it without military force.

“This is world peace, this is international security.”

He added: “I don’t take anything off the table.”

Greenland’s residents and politicians have reacted with anger to his repeated suggestions, with Danish leaders also criticising them.

Mr Trump said “I don’t care” when asked in the NBC interview what message this would send to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has invaded Ukraine and annexed several of its provinces in defiance of international law.