Antony Blinken rejects a Trump Greenland grab as 'not going to happen'

By Courtney McBride 

Despite bellicose language from President-elect Donald Trump, a US takeover of Greenland will never occur, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday in Paris. 

“The idea expressed about Greenland is obviously not a good one, but maybe more important: it’s obviously one that’s not going to happen, so we probably shouldn’t waste a lot of time talking about it,” President Joe Biden’s top diplomat told reporters in a rare direct criticism of an idea Trump floated in the weeks before he reclaims the presidency.

 

In a free-form news conference in Florida on Tuesday, Trump called for the US to absorb Canada and declined to rule out using military force to seize the Panama Canal and Greenland, saying “we need them for economic security.”

 

In a less direct rebuff of Trump’s combative “America First” approach, Blinken said the Biden administration has operated under the belief “that we’re stronger, we’re more effective, we get better results when we’re working closely with our allies — not saying or doing things that may alienate them.”

 

The top US diplomat also argued that Biden’s outgoing team has set up the incoming one for success globally, from negotiations to secure a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza to boosting Trump’s position in potential negotiations over Ukraine.

 

“There are so many things happening in real time that I want to make sure the administration that’s coming in is fully prepared to engage from day one,” Blinken said. “We’re handing over a lot of positive opportunities, initiatives, work, and if the next administration chooses to carry it forward, I think that will be clearly in the interests of the United States.”

 

Blinken, who at times spoke in the fluent French he learned as a youth living in Paris, repeatedly alluded to Trump’s passion for dealmaking.

 

“The work, the investment we’ve made in transformative arrangements for the Middle East — starting with the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel — all of that is ready to go if the opportunity presents itself with a ceasefire and Gaza as well as understandings on a pathway forward for the Palestinians,” he said.

 

On Ukraine, where Trump has vowed to end the war rapidly, Blinken said, “I believe that the incoming administration will want to make sure that they negotiate the best possible deal. And the best possible deal has to be one that builds into it real deterrence against Russia repeating its aggression — six months, a year, two years, you name it.”

 

Blinken is in Paris as part of a farewell tour meant to highlight US alliances but which saw Seoul gripped by a democratic crisis, Tokyo wounded by Biden’s blocking of Nippon Steel Corp.’s bid to buy US Steel and right-wing parties ascendant in Europe.