In a challenge to President Trump’s vow to take control of Greenland, President Emmanuel Macron of France will visit the Arctic island on June 15 with the aim of “contributing to the reinforcement of European sovereignty.“The French presidency announced the visit on Saturday, saying Macron had accepted an invitation from Jens-Frederik Nielsen, Greenland’s PM, and Mette Frederiksen, the Danish PM, with whom it said Macron would discuss “security in the North Atlantic and the Arctic”.Greenland, a semiautonomous island that is a territory of Denmark, a Nato ally, has been thrust in recent months from a remote, uneventful existence to the centre of a geostrategic storm by Trump’s repeated demands that it become part of the US, one way or another. “I think there’s a good possibility that we could do it without military force,” Trump said in March, but added he would not “take anything off the table.”Macron, who has seen in the provocations directed at Europe by Trump govt an opportunity for European assertion of its power, will be the first foreign head of state to go to Greenland since Trump embarked on his annexation campaign this year. US V-P JD Vance visited Greenland in March. The trip was drastically scaled back and confined to a remote military base after threat of local protests.The French announcement did not allude to Trump or the US, but it was clear the intent and symbolism of the visit is that Greenland is not there for the taking on the whim of an American president. Early this year, France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, offered to send troops to help defend the island. Denmark demurred. Macron will stop in Greenland on his way to the G-7 meeting in Canada that runs from June 15 to 17. Trump has also suggested Canada should be absorbed into the US as the 51st state, so Macron will be travelling from one of Trump’s targets for territorial expansion to another. The announcement said discussions among the leaders in Greenland would also focus on “climate change, energy transition and security in supply of critical minerals.” nyt
