\n<\/p>\n
NUUK, Greenland — <\/span>Greenland\u2019s party leaders have rejected President Donald Trump\u2019s repeated calls for the U.S. to take control<\/a> of the island, saying that Greenland\u2019s future must be decided by its people. <\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want to be Americans, we don\u2019t want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders,\u201d Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and four party leaders said in a statement Friday night.<\/p>\n Trump said again on Friday that he would like to make a deal to acquire Greenland,<\/a> a semiautonomous region that\u2019s part of NATO ally Denmark<\/a>, \u201cthe easy way.\u201d He said that if the U.S. doesn\u2019t own it, then Russia or China will take it over, and the U.S. does not want them as neighbors.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we don\u2019t do it the easy way, we\u2019re going to do it the hard way,\u201d Trump said, without explaining what that entailed. The White House said it is considering a range of options, including using military force, to acquire the island. <\/p>\n Greenland’s party leaders reiterated that \u201cGreenland\u2019s future must be decided by the Greenlandic people.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs Greenlandic party leaders, we would like to emphasize once again our wish that the United States\u2019 contempt for our country ends,\u201d the statement said. <\/p>\n Officials from Denmark, Greenland and the United States met Thursday in Washington and will meet again next week to discuss the renewed push by the White House<\/a> for the control of the island. <\/p>\n