President Donald Trump on Tuesday insisted that the United States should be in control of Greenland rather than NATO ally Denmark, repeating an assertion that has raised deep tensions in Europe even as the trans-Atlantic military alliance was announcing billions in arms deals in an attempt to appease the mercurial US leader.
Trump said that the semiautonomous island is “an important part” for the United States, as he repeated the false claim that it´s surrounded by Chinese and Russian ships and said he won’t let Greenland be threatened by those countries.
“That should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark,” Trump told reporters during a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the presidential palace in Ankara.
The comments are likely to rattle countries in the NATO alliance, which was founded on the principle that its 32 members will defend each others’ territory and not threaten to seize it. At this year’s summit, European countries and the alliance’s secretary-general, Mark Rutte, were already working overtime to address another longstanding complaint from Trump about NATO: that European allies do not spend enough on their own defense.
Separately, Trump announced Tuesday that the US will lift sanctions on Türkiye that were issued after Ankara purchased a Russian missile defense system that led to the country being kicked out of the F-35 fighter jet program – in a nod to his warm ties with Erdogan, the summit’s host.
Türkiye was barred from the F-35 fighter jet program in 2019 after it purchased Russian-made S-400 missile defense systems. That unfurled years of tensions between the US and Türkiye, despite the warm personal relationship between Trump and Erdogan dating back to the US president’s first term.
There are still a number of legal hurdles before Türkiye could be fully admitted back to the US F-35 program, but the removal of sanctions issued under the Countering America´s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act would help ease that process. Regaining access to the F-35s is a top goal of Erdogan, and Trump has hinted for some time that that will eventually happen.
“We´re going to be taking the sanctions off, OK?” Trump said in response to a question as he sat alongside Erdogan, saying Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were working on the issue.
Trump said the possibility of selling F-35s to Türkiye is “something certainly we´d consider,” given the US’s relationship with Türkiye and that “Türkiye´s been, in many ways, much more loyal than other countries that we think would be loyal.” For his part, Erdogan expressed hope that the US will sell F-35 planes to Türkiye, saying the US president always stands by his word.
Trump and Erdogan repeatedly showed off their fondness for each other after Air Force One touched down in Ankara. Erdogan greeted the US president with an elaborate welcome ceremony involving cannons, military officials on horseback and jets flying overhead emitting red, white and blue smoke.
Asked about what makes their relationship so strong, Trump said there´s “a chemistry that works between us.”
“Sometimes you get along with the toughest people, like him,” Trump said, gesturing to Erdogan.
Türkiye’s access to any of the US F-35s could complicate relationships elsewhere. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has urged the Trump administration not to sell the fighter jets to Türkiye, saying Erdogan “calls openly for the annihilation of Israel,” and there is deep opposition among US lawmakers to Türkiye having the F-35s as long as the Russian missile defense system remains in its possession.
Even if sanctions are no longer an issue, the Trump administration still faces restrictions under US law that prevents Türkiye from being able to purchase the fighter jets if it still owns the S-400s.
Earlier in the day, NATO showcased a series of military projects worth billions of dollars – an investment Rutte called “money well spent” and that was clearly meant to try to satisfy Trump.
An energized Rutte was speaking to government ministers and defense industry officials at a forum billed as NATO´s “big reveal,” to the thrum of techno music and a slick video display.
NATO as an organization does not own any weapons – these are the property of the 32 member countries – but it does have a fleet of 14 AWACS early warning radar surveillance planes that are about 50 years old, along with some newer surveillance drones.
A deal to replace the aging planes was announced Tuesday. Swedish manufacturer Saab will be supplying up to 10 new GlobalEye surveillance aircraft for a 10-nation consortium, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced.
“It´s a moment of great pride,” he said, noting that the twin-engine aircraft would be “made within the alliance for all the alliance.”
Some of the projects will be paid for with funds from a system of cheap loans for defense purposes set up by the European Union, comprising up to $170 billion raised on capital markets.