France's president set to visit Greenland

France's President Emmanuel Macron is set to make an official visit to Greenland on Sunday, for meetings with both Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.

A statement from the president's office said discussions will center on North Atlantic and Arctic security concerns, addressing climate challenges, advancing energy transformation initiatives, and strategic mineral resources.

The office said the visit seeks to "strengthen cooperation" between France and the Arctic territory, and "contribute to the strengthening of European sovereignty".

"The deep sea is not for sale, neither is Greenland for sale, nor Antarctica," Macron said during a speech at the UN Ocean Conference in Nice on Monday.

Macron's visit comes amid United States President Donald Trump's continued threats to annex Greenland, which is a semi-autonomous Danish territory.

Since assuming office in January, Trump has repeatedly voiced his desire to control the immense Arctic territory, "one way or another", and he has not ruled out using force to acquire the resource-rich island, which is home to 56,000 residents.

Trump said in an interview in March: "We need Greenland for international safety and security. We need it. We have to have it."

Washington officials have also suggested that other countries have strategic designs on Greenland.

In a contentious move, US Vice-President JD Vance inspected the US military base in Pituffik, northwest Greenland, on March 28, drawing immediate diplomatic criticism.

During the visit, Vance criticized Denmark for not having "done a good job for the people of Greenland", for not investing enough in the local economy, and for "not ensuring its security".

The vice-president maintained the US had "no option" but to take a significant position to ensure the security of the island, and he encouraged a push in Greenland for independence from Denmark.

"I think that they ultimately will partner with the United States," Vance said. "We could make them much more secure. We could do a lot more protection. And I think they'd fare a lot better economically as well."

On a visit to Denmark in late April, Nielsen declared that such comments by US leaders have been disrespectful, and that Greenland will never be "a piece of property" that anyone can buy.

Speaking to POLITICO last month, Greenland's Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt indicated that the country wanted to deepen cooperation with the European Union, with mineral resources being the key focus for potential collaboration.

Denmark's PM Frederiksen welcomed the forthcoming French diplomatic mission as "another concrete testimony of European unity" amid an increasingly "difficult foreign policy situation".

Denmark firmly insists that Greenland "is not for sale". On a visit to the Arctic territory in April, the prime minister declared: "You cannot annex another country."