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French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Greenland Sunday for an official visit intended to strengthen European support for the Danish territory. The visit comes after attempts by the Trump administration to acquire Greenland for the United States, and makes Macron the first foreign leader to visit the island since those efforts began. The US had argued that acquiring the resource-rich island was crucial for national security.
Asked about Trump’s ambitions as he arrived in Greenland, Macron is cited by Reuters as saying: “I don’t think that’s what allies do… it’s important that Denmark and the Europeans commit themselves to this territory, which has very high strategic stakes and whose territorial integrity must be respected.”
A source at the Élysée Palace said ahead of the visit that the French president’s trip had a “dimension of European solidarity and one of strengthening sovereignty and territorial integrity,” without mentioning the Trump administration’s threats to purchase Greenland, or take it by force.
Additionally, Macron’s visit would focus on Arctic security, climate change and Greenland’s economic development, the source added.
During his time on the world’s biggest island, the French leader will tour a glacier, a hydroelectric power station and a Danish warship moored near the semi autonomous territory’s capital, Nuuk, per the Élysée.
Trump has repeatedly expressed interest in buying the island, or the US taking it by military or economic coercion, even as NATO ally Denmark and Greenland have firmly rejected the idea. Last month, the US president renewed his threat of using military force to annex the territory.
In a move widely seen as an effort to ease American ambitions for the territory, on June 12 Denmark’s parliament widened a military agreement with Washington to allow US bases on Danish soil. US soldiers had previously been based at Danish facilities.
Denmark is also moving to bolster its military presence in Greenland, some 1,500 miles from the Danish mainland, including with fighter jets to patrol the western coastline toward the US and a navy frigate, per Greenland’s parliament.
