Trump’s threats to acquire Greenland 'a warning to China', says Meloni

FRANCE 24

9 January 2025 at 11:20 am·1-min read

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni talking with US President-elect Donald Trump at his Mar-A-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida on January 4, 2025.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Thursday she viewed US President-elect Donald Trump's threats to use military force to seize Greenland as a warning to foreign competitors, such as China, to keep their hands off key strategic concerns close to the US.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni said Thursday she didn’t believe US President-elect Donald Trump actually intends to use military force to seize control of Greenland or the Panama Canal, saying she read his comments more as a warning to China and other global players to keep their hands off such strategically important interests.

“I think we can exclude that the United States in the coming years will try to use force to annex territory that interests it,” said Meloni, who travelled last weekend to visit Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

She said Trump was simply flagging that he would not let key strategic concerns close to the United States fall under the sway of foreign competitors, such as China.

"My thinking is that these statements are ... a vigorous way to say the United States will not stand by while other major global players move into areas that are of strategic interest to the United States and, I would add, to the West," Meloni said.

(FRANCE 24 with AP and Reuters)

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