Macron Critiques Trump's Threats to Annex Greenland

French leader is first foreign head of state to visit territory since Trump's provocation

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NUUK - French President Emmanuel Macron on June 15 criticised US President Donald Trump's threats to annex Greenland, as he made a visit to the Danish autonomous territory.

"That's not what allies do," Mr Macron said as he arrived in Nuuk, Greenland's capital.

Mr Macron is the first foreign head of state to visit the vast territory — at the crossroads of the Atlantic and the Arctic — since Mr Trump's annexation threats.

Since returning to the White House in January, Mr Trump has repeatedly said America needs the strategically located, resource-rich island for security reasons, and has refused to rule out the use of force to secure it.

"Everybody thinks — in France, in the European Union — that Greenland is not to be sold, not to be taken," Mr Macron told reporters as he wound up a six-hour visit accompanied by Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen.

Speaking at a press conference held outdoors at the Old Port in Nuuk, the French leader said his trip was aimed at conveying France's and the EU's "solidarity" with Greenland.

He stressed the island's "territorial integrity" as dozens of Greenlanders cheered and waved their territory's red-and-white flag.