But the U.S. president’s British ally says Trump has raised a serious point about security threats to the Arctic territory.
LONDON — Nigel Farage on Wednesday rebuffed his ally Donald Trump’s desire to seize control of Greenland from Denmark.
The Reform UK leader and friend of the U.S. president, currently leading in British opinion polls, joined Prime Minister Keir Starmer in criticizing American plans to acquire the autonomous Danish territory.
“I agree with the prime minister,” Farage told a press conference Wednesday. “This should be for the people of Greenland and Denmark to decide. Of course I do.”
However, the right-wing populist leader argued that Trump has pinpointed “some genuine security concerns around Greenland” which will only become more relevant as climate change impacts the Arctic region.
“There is a strong feeling in British intelligence circles and many in NATO that there needs to be a significant NATO base located directly on the north — in Greenland,” Farage said.
Danish PM Mette Frederiksen has issued a strong rejection of Trump’s threats, while Starmer joined European leaders Tuesday in signing a joint statement stressing the “inviolability” of Greenland’s borders.
However, the White House doubled down overnight, saying Trump is considering “a range of options” to acquire Greenland including the use of military force.
Farage argued that Greenland had already been “moving further and further away from Danish control, and is pretty close to establishing its own level of independence, and the fear is that they will fall prey to very large amounts of Chinese money and Chinese influence.”
He added: “As ever with things that Trump says, they may sound outrageous, and in the case of potentially using force, they are. But there is a point behind it.”
Farage said he doubted that Trump would use force to take Greenland as that “probably would be the end of NATO,” but predicted “some kind of cooperation agreement” involving a NATO base and a deal around Greenland’s minerals.
Elsewhere, the Reform UK leader said Wednesday that the concept of international law is “outdated” and it would not necessarily be “a bad thing” to upend the rules-based international order, as Trump did in sending U.S. forces to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Citing treaties and bodies including the United Nations charter and International Court of Justice, he said: “Many of us now regard these institutions as being hopelessly out of date, and much of what they say as being frankly illegitimate. We are moving into a very new world of national self-interest.”
This story has been updated with further reporting.