Exclusive: SIK leader Jess Berthelsen rejects Trump claim that the US needs Greenland for ‘national security’

Greenland “will not be annexed”, the longtime leader of its largest labor union has declared, refuting Donald Trump’s claims that the Arctic territory’s current status poses a national security threat to the US.

In an interview with the Guardian, Jess Berthelsen, chair of SIK, Greenland’s national trade union confederation, said people in the territory do not recognize the US president’s allegations that Russian and Chinese ships are scattered throughout its waters. “We can’t see it, we can’t recognize it and we can’t understand it,” he said.

The Trump administration has renewed its threats to seize Greenland in recent days, and claimed that officials are even considering using military force as an option, following a raid in Venezuela that culminated in the arrest and ouster of the nation’s president Nicolás Maduro, and his wife Cilia Flores.