Donald Trump threatens to pull US troops from Europe and renews Greenland takeover demand
Donald Trump has threatened to pull US troops out of Europe as he revived his demand for control of Greenland.
The US President began lashing out at allies moments after he touched down in Turkey for a key Nato summit. He renewed his call to annex Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, risking a fresh crisis at the top of the military alliance.
At a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Mr Trump said the Arctic island "should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark." He added: “Because Greenland doesn’t help Denmark. Denmark doesn’t spend money to really help Greenland."
Mr Trump went on another rant about how the US was spending too much money in Europe, and criticised European countries for allowing too much migration.
“We could remove all of our soldiers out of Europe, because as you probably noticed, Europe’s a very different place than it was 20 years ago, a lot different, much different, and they better be careful with immigration and energy.
“If they’re not careful with those two things, you’re not going to have a Europe anymore."
There are some 80,000 US troops in Europe, providing a critical plank of the Nato defences, and a deterrence against attacks.
He also complained he was "very disappointed" with Nato, singling out Britain, France, Germany and Italy for failing to join his war with Iran.
Mr Trump’s outrageous demands to seize control of Greenland plunged Nato into crisis earlier this year. But Keir Starmer and allies refused to bow to his threat, with the PM insisting: "He wants me to yield on my position, and I’m not going to do so."
Chancellor Rachel Reeves told reporters: “The future of Greenland is up to the people of Greenland and of Denmark, and not up to the US President.
“I’ve been very clear about that ever since it was first suggested.”
Mr Trump is expected to use the summit to lambast European countries over defence spending - after accusing allies of freeloading off the US.
He said he would have skipped the summit if the gathering were not being held in Turkey “where my friend happens to be a very strong leader, a very strong person, it’s possible that I wouldn’t have attended”.
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