Trump latest: President warns ‘you’ll find out’ – when asked how far he’ll go to take Greenland

Donald Trump now brings up the topic of Greenland after recently ramping up his rhetoric on the territory.

“Every NATO ally has an obligation to be able to defend their own territory,” he says.

“The fact is, no nation or group of nations is in any position to be able to secure Greenland other than the United States.

“We’re a great power, much greater than people even understand.”

Much has been made about the US president’s ambition behind wanting to acquire the territory, which he is now explaining to the summit.

“Greenland is a vast, almost entirely uninhabited and undeveloped territory sitting undefended in a key strategic location between the United States, Russia and China,” he says.

“There’s so much rare earth, and to get this rare earth, you’ve got to go through hundreds of feet of ice.

“That’s not the reason we need it, we need it for strategic national security and international security.

“This enormous unsecured island is actually part of North America on the northern frontier of the Western Hemisphere; that’s our territory.”

Watch below: Why Greenland is important to Trump

Trump’s claims in context – and what his critics say

Denmark is a NATO ally and already allows a US military base on Greenland. It and critics of Trump say the US is already allowed to add more troops to this base and beef up Greenland’s defences, without owning it. 

And last week, European nations sent their own troops to Greenland, in what they said was a demonstration of their commitment to its defence. 

Danish military figures also say there is no direct threat to Greenland from China or Russia.