NUUK, Greenland — Greenland's party leaders have rejected President Donald Trump's repeated calls for the U.S. to take control of the island, saying that Greenland's future must be decided by its people.
''We don't want to be Americans, we don't want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders,'' Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and four party leaders said in a statement Friday night.
Trump said again on Friday that he would like to make a deal to acquire Greenland, a semiautonomous region that's part of NATO ally Denmark, ''the easy way.'' He said that if the U.S. doesn't own it, then Russia or China will take it over, and the U.S. does not want them as neighbors.
''If we don't do it the easy way, we're going to do it the hard way,'' Trump said, without explaining what that entailed. The White House said it is considering a range of options, including using military force, to acquire the island.
Greenland's party leaders reiterated that ''Greenland's future must be decided by the Greenlandic people.''
''As Greenlandic party leaders, we would like to emphasize once again our wish that the United States' contempt for our country ends,'' the statement said.
Officials from Denmark, Greenland and the United States met Thursday in Washington and will meet again next week to discuss the renewed push by the White House for the control of the island.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an American takeover of Greenland would mark the end of NATO.
