US President Donald Trump, who has said he wants to take over Greenland, is very unpredictable, the island’s premier said on Monday, the eve of the self-governing Danish territory’s legislative elections.
“There is a world order that is faltering on many fronts — and a president of the United States who is very unpredictable — in such a way that makes people feel insecure,” Prime Minister Mute Egede told Danish public radio.
In a speech to the US Congress last week, Trump reiterated his designs, arguing the US needed the vast Arctic island for reasons of national and international security.
Determining a timeline for Greenland’s independence from Denmark has dominated the territory’s election campaign.
“We strongly support your right to determine your own future and, if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America,” Trump said.
He went on to say he was confident the US would get Greenland “one way or the other”.
The plans were met by laughter from Republicans in Congress, which many Greenlanders perceived as derisive.
“We deserve to be treated with respect and I don’t think the American president has done that lately since he took office,” Egede said.
“The recent things that the American president has done mean that you don’t want to get as close to (the US) as you might have wanted in the past,” he added.
The day after Trump’s speech to Congress, Egede wrote on Facebook that Greenlanders “don’t want to be Americans, or Danes either”.
“We are Greenlanders.”
“The Americans and their leader must understand that.”