Trump says U.S. wants "total access" to Greenland

WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- The White House is negotiating a deal to secure U.S. "total access" to Denmark's Greenland with no time limit, President Donald Trump told Fox Business on Thursday.

"I mean, we're talking about, it's really being negotiated now, the details of it, but essentially it's total access. There's no end, there's no time limit," Trump said in an interview.

One day earlier, Trump said that since his talks with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Mark Rutte produced "the framework of a future deal" concerning Greenland and the broader Arctic region, he would not proceed with tariffs on eight European countries that were scheduled to take effect on Feb. 1.

In response, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Thursday that Rutte does not have a mandate to negotiate on behalf of Denmark or Greenland, reaffirming that Greenland's future should be decided by Greenland and sovereignty is not negotiable.