France warned President-elect Donald Trump to back off from threats to the European Union’s “sovereign borders” on Wednesday, a day after he refused to rule out using military force to take Greenland.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot stated that the EU will not tolerate attacks on its borders, regardless of their origin. Barrot said he does not expect Trump to “invade” Danish territory, but noted that the world is witnessing a “return of the law of the strongest.”
Greenlandic and Danish leaders have repeatedly stated that the autonomous territory—which Trump has boldly claimed should be taken over by the US to ensure its “economic security”—is neither for sale nor interested in joining the union.
When asked at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Tuesday if he would pledge not to use military force to seize Greenland or the Panama Canal, Trump replied: “No, I can’t assure you on either of those two, but I can say this, we need them for economic security.”
Trump has also been fixated on Canada becoming the 51st state, which Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday has “a snowball’s chance in hell” of happening.
