Trump never wanted to invade Greenland, US envoy to EU says

U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to invade Greenland earlier this year were misunderstood, the American ambassador to the European Union said Friday.

“It got interpreted that we were somehow threatening Greenland’s territorial integrity,” but “the president never said we were going to invade,” Andrew Puzder told attendees at the Brussels Economic Security Forum. 

During his second term in office, Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of annexing Greenland, without excluding the use of military force, which caused consternation in Europe. Puzder said the president’s statements were useful to bring attention to Greenland’s strategic importance, but should not have been taken seriously.

The ambassador’s comments came just a day after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee that the Arctic island is part of Denmark — “for now.”

Trump eventually ruled out a military invasion of Greenland in January, setting up talks between the U.S. and Denmark on increasing the American military presence on the Arctic island.

Puzder, a former restaurateur, compared Europe’s reactions to Trump’s threats to the foam and coffee of a cappuccino.

“You get a cappuccino, you get it for the coffee, you don’t get it for the froth. So let’s focus on the coffee and not on the froth. And a lot of this is the froth,” he explained.