VOA News | Sunday, January 8, 2025 
European Union rebuffs Trump’s designs on Greenland takeover

The European Union on Wednesday dismissed U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s refusal to rule out a military attack to take control of Denmark’s autonomous territory of Greenland as “wild hypothetical stuff,” while confirming that EU states would be compelled to defend the island if Trump invaded it. Trump, set to be inaugurated for a second, nonconsecutive term in the White House on Jan. 20, refused at a news conference Tuesday to rule out military action to take control of the mineral-rich Arctic island and earlier had vowed to slap high tariffs on Denmark if it refused to cede control. The Brussels-based 27-nation bloc, long a U.S. ally, however, attempted to avoid being drawn into a verbal sparring match with Trump, saying it was “looking forward” to working with the incoming administration.  As for Trump’s refusal to rule out military action to take over Greenland, a European Commission spokesperson said, “We are talking about fairly wild hypothetical stuff about an administration that hasn’t come in yet.” Another spokesperson added that the sovereignty of states had to be respected “as a matter of principle.” Asked if Greenland was covered by a mutual defense clause binding EU members to assist each other in case of attack, commission spokesperson Paula Pinho said that was the case. “But we are indeed speaking of something extremely theoretical on which we will not want to elaborate,” she said…Read more