Macron to Greenland in show of support after Trump threats

French President Emmanuel Macron was to travel to Greenland yesterday carrying a message of “European solidarity and support” for the Danish autonomous territory coveted by US President Donald Trump, located at the crossroads of the Atlantic and the Arctic.

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Mr Macron was to be be the first foreign head of state to set foot on the vast territory — roughly nine times larger than the UK, with 80% of its area covered in ice — since Mr Trump’s annexation threats.

Mr Trump has repeatedly said the US needs the strategically located, resource-rich Arctic island for security reasons, and has refused to rule out the use of force to secure it.

The deep sea, Greenland and Antarctica are “not for sale”, Mr Macron said last Monday at a UN oceans summit, remarks clearly directed at Mr Trump's expansionist claims.

“I'm going to say: ‘We're here, and we're ready to reinvest ourselves so that there is no preying” on it, Mr Macron said a few days ahead of his trip.

Following his arrival in Greenland’s capital Nuuk at 11.30am, the French leader was to visit a glacier, a hydroelectric power plant and a Danish frigate. He was to be accompanied throughout his visit by Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen.