This IS Crazy shit…
Alternate universe …
Or?
It is about pressuring Denmark and the EU for better’ Trade deal’s?
And to try to worry Russia ?
While the Trump US Sec of State Rubio talks about stratigic security co-operation, eh?
No purchase…P
Just?
Trump scare tactics again?
It was a contentious, aggressive telephone call, five days before the inauguration of President Trump on Jan. 20.
Speaking to Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark, Mr. Trump insisted he wanted the United States to take over Greenland, the massive and autonomous Danish island that occupies a strategic part of the ocean as the ice caps melt and new shipping lanes open up.
The tone and content of the icy exchange was described by two European officials who were briefed on the 45-minute call and requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic. The United States has not publicly commented on the call.
Ms. Frederiksen made various suggestions for more cooperation on military and economic issues, but insisted that Greenland, which already hosts an important American base, was not for sale, according to the European officials.
Since that Jan. 15 call, whose aggressive tenor was earlier reportedby The Financial Times, Denmark has tried to calm the waters, urging its partners in the European Union not to inflame the situation until matters become more clear, the officials said. The issue of Greenland is not on the agenda for an E.U. foreign affairs council meeting in Brussels on Monday, for example.
If Mr. Trump decides to pressure Denmark with economic means, through tariffs, the European Union itself would be expected to respond as a whole with countertariffs, said Zaki Laïdi, a professor at Sciences Po and an adviser to the former E.U. foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell Fontelles….
…
For now, the Danes are concentrating on dialogue. On Friday, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Denmark’s foreign minister and prime minister during the first Trump administration, had a 20-minute telephone discussion with the new U.S. secretary of state, Marco Rubio. Afterward, Mr. Rasmussen said that the two countries had agreed to discuss “the Arctic region” and that the conversation, which included other issues like Ukraine, had a “good and constructive tone.”
The State Department, for its part, said that Mr. Rubio had “reaffirmed the strength of the relationship” between the two countries. The two men, the State Department said, “discussed the importance of deepening bilateral and regional cooperation on security and defense, economic and trade matters, and ending the war in Ukraine.”…
…
The officials who were briefed on the phone call and Mr. Laïdi suggested that Mr. Trump’s intentions were unclear, and that he might move to encourage Greenlanders to vote for independence in a referendum and then to bind themselves to the United States. Or he may want to pressure Denmark and the European Union with tariffs. Brussels is working with the Danes to strike the right tone and to figure out what Mr. Trump really wants, one official said….
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