(Washington) A Republican representative from Florida introduced a bill to make Greenland the 51ste State of the United States as the Trump administration threatens to seize the huge autonomous territory controlled by Denmark, the United States’ NATO ally.
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The text, entitled “An Act on the annexation and admission of Greenland into the Union”, was presented Monday by Representative Randy Fine, the office of this Republican elected official said in a press release.
“Greenland is not a distant outpost that we can afford to ignore. It is a vital asset for national security,” said Mr. Fine in his press release.
“Who controls Greenland controls key Arctic shipping lanes and the security architecture that protects the United States. America cannot leave its future in the hands of regimes that disregard our values and seek to undermine our security,” he argued.
According to the two-page bill, President Trump would be authorized “to take any action necessary to annex Greenland or acquire it as a territory of the United States.”
Donald Trump said on Sunday that the United States would seize Greenland “one way or another”, specifying that he was not talking about a short-term “rental”, but about the acquisition of this territory.
The American president sees this as a way for the United States to ensure its own security against China and Russia, and believes that Denmark has abandoned Greenland and its defense.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Monday that there is no “timetable” for the U.S. takeover of Greenland “but,” she added, “it’s certainly a priority” for President Trump.
An annexation of Greenland would sign the death warrant of the Atlantic Alliance, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned in early January.
This immense Arctic island populated by 57,000 inhabitants has significant mineral resources, the majority of which are unexploited, and is considered a strategic location. The United States already has a military base there and administered around ten during the Cold War.
