France says it is co-ordinating with European partners over possible US move on Greenland

France has said it is working with allies on how to react if the US were to invade Greenland, amid mounting tension over Donald Trump’s escalating threats to take over the Arctic territory. The French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, said the subject would be discussed at a meeting with the German and Polish foreign ministers on Wednesday.

Barrot told France Inter that "we want to take action, but we want to do so together with our European partners." Denmark has warned that should the US invade or seize Greenland, which is part of the Danish kingdom, it would mark the end of the western military alliance and "post-second world war security." On Tuesday, after one of Trump’s leading aides suggested the US may be willing to seize control of the Arctic territory by force, European leaders rallied around Denmark and Greenland, declaring that Greenland "belongs to its people." The White House said Trump and his team were looking at "a range of options" to acquire Greenland, including using the US military, which it said was "always an option." Barrot said that in a phone call on Tuesday the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, had told him he had "ruled out the possibility of an invasion" of Greenland.

The situation has prompted an extraordinary meeting of the Danish parliament and calls from Denmark's Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Greenland's Vivian Motzfeldt for an urgent meeting with Rubio.

Key Topics

World, Greenland, Donald Trump, France, Denmark, Nato