Macron Opposes Trump by Visiting Greenland this Month
Cindy Pu
President Emmanuel Macron is planning to travel to Greenland; the island nation President Trump has promised to take control over. While on his way to Canada for a Group 7 meeting on June 15, the trip will symbolize that the French announcement does not support the annexation of Greenland.
The uneventful island that is a territory of Denmark, had suddenly been pushed into the middle of a geostrategic storm by President Trump’s demands that Greenland become part of the United States. In March, Mr. Trump promised the possibility of annexing Greenland, telling NBC, “I think there’s a good possibility that we could do it without military force.”
As a show of resistance to President Trump vowing to take control of Greenland, President Emmanuel Macron of France will be visiting the gigantic and chilly island known as Greenland on June 15 to help contribute to regaining sovereignty for Europe. Mr. Macron had accepted an invitation from Greenland’s prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, and Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen, to discuss the security of the Artic and North Atlantic.
Since Mr. Trump’s annexation campaign on Greenland this year, Mr. Macron will be the first foreign head of state to go to the country. JD Vance, the vice president of the United States also visited Greenland in March, but his trip was very confined due to protests.
Mr. Macron will stop in Greenland on the way to the Group 7 meeting in Canada, which is taking place from June 15 to 17. Mr. Trump has also suggested that Canada become the United States’ 51st state, which means that the French president will be traveling from one of Mr. Trump’s territorial targets to another.
The French did not announce directly to Mr. Trump or the United States about what the visit intends, but it was clear what the purpose was. Earlier this year, France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, had offered to send in troops to defend Greenland and its vast, mineral–rich land, but Denmark denied the help.
Greenland has a population of around 56,000 and is rich in rare and essential Earth minerals that are used in high-tech industries. According to recent studies, 31 of the 34 minerals that the European Union, or the EU, identify as critical, include lithium and titanium, which are found on this island.
Mr. Macron’s relationship with Mr. Trump formed during Trump’s first term, and they have always been friendly on the surface. That bring said, they have very different opinions about the European Union. While Mr. Macron is a big supporter, Mr. Trump has declared it to be an anti-American creation.
The visit could be interpreted to be good for France, as it is an assertion of French and European defiance. Throughout Europe, Denmark, and Greenland itself, Mr. Trump’s attempt to take control of the island provoked outrage. Recently, a poll showed that 85 percent of Greenlanders do not want to join the United States but do want to eventually gain independence from Denmark. Mr. Macron’s visit to Greenland will imply to Mr. Trump and the United States that the island is ‘off limits,’ while also supporting the evidence that most Greenlanders do not want anything to do with the United States.
