David Lammy has refused to condemn Donald Trump for suggesting he could use military force to take over Greenland.
The president-elect made the warning in a rambling press conference earlier this week in which he also said America could seize control of the Panama Canal.
In a further sign of his expansionist ambitions, Trump has suggested that Canada become the “51st state” of America.
Asked by Sky News presenter Wilfred Frost this morning if it was “classic Donald Trump”, Lammy laughed and replied: “Yes, I do think it’s classic Donald Trump.
“Look, I think what sits behind Donald Trump is he’s just won an election, 77 million people voted for him - up in nearly all classifications, including, by the way, African Americans and Latinos.
“He came in very clearly saying he was going to work for working people, and he sees America’s national economic security as centring that. That is why he’s raising issues in relation to the Panama Canal and, I suspect, Greenland.
“He always amplifies that and does it at its strongest intensity, but sitting behind that are actually quite serious national and economic security issues.”
Lammy said it was “legitimate” for Trump to raise concerns about China’s influence in the Panama Canal.
He added: “The issues around Greenland, that has been raised before. In the end, it’s up to the people of Greenland and their own self-determination, and there is a discussion in Greenland about those very same issues.”
Frost then said: “He was asked in one of the press conferences ‘would you rule out using military or economic force to seize either of them’ and he said no, he wouldn’t rule those two things out.”
Lammy replied: “Well that’s the amplification of the intensity of the rhetoric, but let’s be clear, no Nato countries have gone to war since the establishment of Nato, and I don’t envisage that.”
Frost asked him: “So the rhetoric you wouldn’t condemn, obviously the actions you would if it got to that?”
The foreign secretary said: “I’m not in the business of condemning our closest ally. I am in the business of interpreting what sits behind this, and there are some very serious national economic security issues. That’s the basis on which Donald Trump has won his election.
“And let me just say, he is saying in America that his number one issue is growth and his second issue is migration. Guess what - we’re saying the same thing here under our government, so we can find common cause on these issues.”