Greenland prime minister rebuffs Trump remarks as NATO tensions rise

By Stine Jacobsen

COPENHAGEN, April 9 (Reuters) - Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said on Thursday that he represents a proud nation seeking to maintain global order, pushing back against the latest comments about the Arctic island by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump on Wednesday vented his frustration with NATO as relations reached a crisis point over the Iran war, stating that the military alliance was not around when needed, and that he still remembered Greenland, a "BIG, POORLY RUN, PIECE OF ICE".

"What is important for us is that we maintain the world community that we have built after World War Two, where we have a defence alliance that we respect, and where we have international law respected by all sides," Nielsen told Reuters.

"Those things are being challenged now, and I think all allies should stand together to try to maintain them. I hope that will happen," he said.

NATO allies had already been scrambling earlier this year to find ways to keep the alliance together after Trump revived his push to seize Greenland from Denmark, a fellow NATO member.

Nielsen on Thursday pushed back against Trump's characterisation of his country.

"We are not some piece of ice. We are a proud population of 57,000 people, working every single day as good global citizens in full respect for all our allies," he said.

(Reporting by Stine Jacobsen, editing by Louise Rasmussen and Terje Solsvik)