Donald Trump has hinted the United States could pull out of NATO if fellow members of the military alliance don’t agree to his taking Greenland. The US President was asked on Friday (January 16) if he would pull out of the military alliance if other members don’t help him acquire the semi-autonomous Danish territory.

He replied: “We’re going to see. NATO has been dealing with us on Greenland. We need Greenland for national security very badly. If we don’t have it we have a very big hole in terms of national security, especially in terms of the Golden Dome.”

The Golden Dome is a proposed space-based missile defence system designed to protect the US from missiles.

Mr Trump earlier threatened he may punish countries with tariffs if they don’t back US control of Greenland.

For months he has insisted the US should have Greenland amid growing rivalry in the Arctic with Russia and China. This is despite Greenlanders and the Danish refusing to hand it over.

Mr Trump has nevertheless sought to justify his calls for a US takeover by repeatedly claiming China and Russia have their own designs on Greenland, which has vast, untapped reserves of critical minerals.

Leaders in Europe have joined Denmark in saying the US cannot control the world’s largest island.

Italy’s Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, said on Friday that he had a “cordial” phone call with his US counterpart, Marco Rubio, during which he stressed the importance of ensuring the security of the Arctic region from within NATO.

Meanwhile, in Copenhagen a group of US senators and members of the House of Representatives met with Danish and Greenlandic politicians, including Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.

Senator Chris Coons thanked the group’s hosts for 225 years of being a good and trusted ally and partner.

He said those at the meeting had a strong and robust dialogue about how to extend that into the future.

Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said on Tuesday that if Greenlanders have to choose between the US and Denmark they would choose Denmark.

He said: “We choose NATO. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU.”