Greenland Responds to Trump's New Insult

Greenland's leader is pushing back after being reduced to a "piece of ice" in President Trump's latest broadside against NATO. Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen urged alliance members to close ranks in defense of international law after the president complained on social media that NATO wasn't there "when we needed them" in the Iran war and added, "REMEMBER GREENLAND, THAT BIG, POORLY RUN, PIECE OF ICE," Reuters reports. "We are not some piece of ice," Nielsen said, calling Greenland's 57,000 residents "good global citizens" who respect their allies.

His remarks land during talks involving Greenland, Denmark, and the US over defense cooperation on the island, where the US already operates a base under a 1951 treaty and says it must counter Russia and China. Trump has repeatedly signaled he wants greater control over Greenland and previously floated using military force before shifting to diplomacy following a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. Nielsen said it would be "strange" not to factor the 1951 deal into current negotiations—but added he sees no indication that Trump's ambitions to "take over or control Greenland" have disappeared.