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U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Andrew Puzder said President Donald Trump never intended to invade Greenland, arguing that the president’s remarks about the Arctic island were misunderstood, according to a Politico report.
Speaking at the Brussels Economic Security Forum on Friday, Puzder said Trump's comments were aimed at drawing attention to Greenland’s strategic importance and should not have been interpreted as a threat to its territorial integrity.
“It got interpreted that we were somehow threatening Greenland’s territorial integrity,” Puzder said. “But the president never said we were going to invade.”
During his second term, Trump repeatedly floated the idea of annexing Greenland and did not initially rule out the use of military force, prompting concern across Europe.
Puzder said those statements should not have been taken literally.
He argued that the debate had become overly focused on rhetoric rather than the broader strategic issues behind Trump’s comments.
The ambassador’s remarks came one day after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee that Greenland is part of Denmark “for now.”
Puzder used a cappuccino analogy to describe European reactions to Trump’s statements.
“You get a cappuccino, you get it for the coffee, you don’t get it for the froth,” he said.
“So let’s focus on the coffee and not on the froth. And a lot of this is the froth,” he added.
Puzder said the underlying issue was Greenland’s strategic importance rather than the rhetoric surrounding Trump’s comments.
Trump later ruled out a military invasion of Greenland in January and instead initiated talks between the U.S. and Denmark on increasing the American military presence on the Arctic island.
The discussions followed months of debate sparked by Trump’s repeated suggestions that Greenland should become part of the United States.
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