Macron Criticises Trump's Greenland Threats on 'Solidarity' Visit to Territory

Emmanuel Macron has criticised Donald Trump's threats to take over Greenland as he became the first foreign head of state to visit the vast, mineral-rich Arctic territory since the US president began making explicit threats to annex it.

- Jon Henley

"I don't think that's what allies do," Macron said as he arrived in the Danish autonomous territory for a highly symbolic visit aimed at conveying "France's and the EU's solidarity" with Greenland on his way to a summit of G7 leaders in Canada.

"It's important that Denmark and the Europeans commit themselves to this territory, where the strategic stakes are very high and whose territorial integrity must be respected," the French president added.

Trump has repeatedly said the US needs Greenland - which is strategically located at the crossroads between the Atlantic and the Arctic - for national security reasons, and has refused to rule out the use of force to secure it.

Polls show the vast majority of Greenland's 57,000 people want independence from Denmark but not to become part of the US. The Danish government has said Greenland "is not for sale" and only Greenlanders could determine their future.