LONDON — Denmark and Greenland should determine Greenland’s future, Keir Starmer said Monday after Donald Trump revived threats to take control of the Arctic territory.
The U.K. prime minister told broadcasters he stood with Danish PM Mette Frederiksen, who warned Sunday the United States has no right to annex the self-ruling Danish territory.
“The future of Greenland is for Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark,” Starmer told Sky News Monday. “Denmark is a close European ally, a close NATO ally, and the future therefore has to be for Greenland [and] for the Kingdom of Denmark, and only for Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark.”
Pushed explicitly on Frederiksen’s warning that the U.S. has no right to take over the territory, Starmer said: “I stand with her, and she’s right about the future of Greenland.”
The PM also responded “yes” to the BBC when asked if he would join the Danes in saying “hands off Greenland.”
Trump has long advocated for the mineral-rich territory to become part of the United States, and on Sunday told reporters on Air Force One: “We need Greenland from a national security situation.”
Starmer has walked a tricky diplomatic tightrope in maintaining good relations with Trump.
The center-left British prime minister is under pressure from some of his own MPs to condemn the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by American troops on Saturday. Maduro is due to appear before a U.S. court Monday on drugs and weapons charges.
Starmer refused to say whether Trump’s actions broke international law, arguing “it’s a complicated situation.” The “peaceful transition to democracy” should be prioritized, he said.
Emily Thornberry, chair of the U.K. parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee and a senior Labour MP, said the U.S. military action in Venezuela “sets a really bad precedent” for countries like China and Russia.



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