The Danish Executive has responded to the President of the United States, Donald Trump, emphasizing that Washington lacks any "preferential right" to exploit the raw materials of Greenland, after the American president announced the start of "massive" operations to search for oil, gas, and minerals backed by his recent agreement with the Danish and Greenlandic authorities to strengthen military cooperation and security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic.
In a written response sent to the Danish public television TV2, the Government of Denmark has stressed that "If the United States wants to explore the Greenlandic subsoil in search of oil, gas, and minerals, it will have to do so within the framework of the relevant Greenlandic legislation."
The Danish ministry also specifies that the agreement sealed between Greenland, Denmark, and the United States "does not grant American investors special rights over the raw materials of Greenland" and that, consequently, "they do not have preferential rights over investors from other NATO countries, EU countries, and NATO partners."
Hours earlier, Trump had proclaimed the imminent start of these exploitation activities under the umbrella of the tripartite pact signed in September: "A massive exploration of oil, gas, and minerals in our new and beautiful Greenland," he stated.
After signing the agreement with Denmark and Greenland, the American president himself maintained that the understanding will allow Washington to permanently take control of the security and other strategic needs of the Arctic island, while the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, presented it as a new turning point in the ties between the parties.
The text formally maintains Danish sovereignty over Greenland and ratifies the right of its inhabitants to self-determination, while providing for a strengthening of the military presence of the United States in the Arctic territory, after months of tensions marked by Trump's demands, who even threatened to take the island by force citing national security reasons.