COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -The new U.S. ambassador to Denmark, a PayPal co-founder and longtime friend of Elon Musk, assumed office on Wednesday amid unprecedented tensions between the NATO allies as President Donald Trump seeks control of semi-autonomous Greenland.
Kenneth Howery, who previously served as U.S. ambassador to Sweden, presented his credentials to King Frederik X at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen along with new ambassadors from seven other nations.
In a brief exchange with reporters, Howery said his priorities would include strengthening defence cooperation and trade ties and working with Denmark on Arctic security concerns.
“I’m also very much looking forward to meeting the people and learning about the cultures of the kingdom as well as travelling around … including the Faroe Islands and Greenland,” he said.
Ties between longstanding allies Denmark and the United States have been strained since Trump expressed his ambition to take over Greenland, a resource-rich Danish territory in the Arctic, citing security concerns.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, on a visit to Greenland in April, made a direct appeal to the United States, in English, stating that “you cannot annex another country, not even with an argument about security”.
Denmark’s foreign minister in August summoned the then-head of the U.S. mission over intelligence reports alleging covert influence operations by U.S. citizens in Greenland that aimed to whip up opposition to Danish rule.
(Reporting by Soren Jeppesen and Tom Little, writing by Louise Rasmussen, editing by Terje Solsvik and Ros Russell)
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