NATO Chief says no discussion with Trump on Greenland sovereignty: ‘That issue did not come up’
DAVOS, SWITZERLAND: North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary-General Mark Rutte clarified on Wednesday, January 21, that recent discussions with President Donald Trump did not address the matter of Danish sovereignty over Greenland.
The Trump-Rutte conversation was instead focused on Arctic security frameworks, according to the Norwegian leader.
Following their meeting at the World Economic Forum, Rutte emphasized that the resulting agreement served as the catalyst for the President’s decision to cancel planned trade tariffs that were supposed to start on February 1.
Rutte says Greenland ownership was not discussed
In an interview with Fox News’ "Special Report with Bret Baier," Rutte said he didn’t talk about whether Denmark would keep control of Greenland.
Instead, the focus was on a general "framework" for the region. "We have a good agreement to really start working on these issues," Rutte said, noting that the main goal is to figure out "what NATO collectively can do to make sure that the whole Arctic region is safe."
When asked if Greenland would stay part of Denmark, Rutte replied, "That issue did not come up anymore in my conversations tonight with the president."
He explained that Trump is "very much focused on what do we need to do to make sure that the huge Arctic region, where change is taking place at the moment, where the Chinese and Russians are more and more active, how we can protect that."
"That was really the focus our discussions," Rutte stressed.
Rutte credits Trump for higher defense spending
Furthermore, Rutte has agreed with Trump that the Arctic needs more security because the threat from Russia and China is growing every day.
He also thanked Trump for pushing other NATO countries to pay more for their own defense. "I would argue tonight with you on this program he was the one who brought a whole of Europe and Canada up to this famous 5% [defense spending target]," Rutte said.
He called this spending "crucial for us to equalize our spending, but also protect ourselves. And this is the framework which you see in his post that we will work on."
Rutte warns about Chinese, Russian militaries
Rutte warned that the world is becoming more dangerous and that NATO must stay alert.
"It's not up to me to comment on what individual allies are doing in terms of their relationship with China," Rutte said, but he insisted that NATO as a group must be careful.
"The position is that we should not be naive," he explained.
"I can tell you'll regret these huge investments the Chinese are making in the military. They are not there to organize parades in Beijing, and the military in Russia are not there to organize parades in Moscow. They are there to be used."
