Rasmus Jarlov, a conservative member of Denmark's parliament, claimed Wednesday that his country wants to keep up relations with the United States, but "there are limits" to the country's goodwill over the Greenland controversy.
Donald Trump has long mused about annexing Greenland from Denmark, a founding member of NATO. On Tuesday, the president-elect upped his rhetoric during a press conference when he declined to rule out a hostile takeover of the Arctic nation.
According to Reuters, Greenland "has strategic significance for the U.S. military and for its ballistic missile early-warning system since the shortest route from Europe to North America runs via the Arctic island."
Jarlov told CNN's Jim Acosta that "everybody" in Denmark is talking about Trump's threats right now.
"We had a gathering yesterday and it's certainly the talk of the country right now. And everybody is kind of trying to find out how to take it down. We want to keep good relations with the United States. It's good for both of us, we think, and certainly crucial for Denmark. But also, on the other hand, there are limits to to what you can you can take. Even if we're a small country, we still have our limits, and this is too much."
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The president-elect's son, Donald Trump Jr. traveled to Greenland Tuesday, "to shoot video content for podcasting," according to the Associated Press.
Greenland’s government said in a statement that Trump Jr. was visiting “as a private individual” and not as an official. Thus, Greenlandic representatives did not meet with him.
The U.S. president-elect posted to social media, "Don Jr. and my Reps landing in Greenland. The reception has been great. They, and the Free World, need safety, security, strength, and PEACE! This is a deal that must happen. MAGA. MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN!”
Earlier in the CNN interview, Jarlov said Denmark's parliament is "a bit shocked" by Trump's bluster.
"It's very unusual for a close ally to make threats about annexing another country's territory and not even wanting to rule out using force or economic coercion. So we're trying to find a balance here between, on one hand, not escalating the situation by responding too aggressively, but on the other hand, also making it very, very, very clear that nobody in Greenland wants this, nobody in Denmark wants it. And it's definitely and absolutely not going to happen."
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