Denmark PM urges Trump to stop threats to take over Greenland

The leaders of Denmark and Greenland on Sunday urged U.S. President Donald Trump to stop threatening to take over Greenland, after he reiterated his wish to do so in an interview with The Atlantic magazine.



"It makes absolutely no sense to talk about the U.S. needing to take over Greenland. The U.S. has no right to annex any of the three countries in the Danish Kingdom," Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement on Sunday.



Trump told the magazine: "We do need Greenland, absolutely. We need it for defense."



He spoke a day after the U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and the president said Washington would run the Latin American country.



This raised concerns in Denmark that the same could happen with Greenland, a Danish territory.



Frederiksen said: "I would therefore strongly urge the U.S. stop the threats against a historically close ally and against another country and another people, who have very clearly said that they are not for sale."