STOCKHOLM, March 14. /TASS/. Making Greenland a part of the US by force would set off a war between two NATO countries, Denmark and the US, according to Rasmus Jarlov, chairman of the Danish Parliament’s Defense Committee.

"We do not appreciate the Secr. Gen. of NATO joking with Trump about Greenland like this. It would mean war between two NATO countries," he said on X, referring to the meeting US President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in the White House on March 13.

The US president said at the meeting that the US will annex Greenland, and Rutte said he would prefer to leave Greenland out of the discussion and called against involving NATO in the issue.

Trump said on March 4 that he would approve of a decision of the people of Greenland to make this autonomous territory of Denmark a part of the United States. The American leader previously stated that Greenland should join the United States. He threatened to impose high trade duties against Denmark if it does not give up the island. During his first presidential term, Trump offered to buy Greenland. Danish and Greenlandic authorities rejected the idea.

Greenland is part of Denmark as an autonomous territory. In 1951, Washington and Copenhagen signed the Greenland Defense Treaty, agreeing that the US will defend the island from external aggression. The island hosts a US base, Pituffik Space Base, which plays a role in the missile warning system and surveillance of the Arctic region.