People look as a plane lands on the day the expansion of Nuuk's International Airport is inaugurated with a flight from Copenhagen, in Nuuk, Greenland, in this screengrab from a video obtained from social media, Nov 28, 2024. [Photo provided by Hotel Aurora Nuuk via REUTERS] .
Donald Trump has reiterated his desire to buy Greenland, which is an autonomous part of Denmark.
The United States' president-elect made the comment ahead of a visit by his son, Donald Trump Jr, to the region on Tuesday.
Greenland, which is the world's largest island, is located between the Arctic and North Atlantic Ocean, and, although it has a population of just 56,000 people, it is of key strategic importance for the Arctic region.
Trump's renewed interest in the territory backs up a desire he expressed during his first term of office.
"For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity," he wrote on his Truth Social platform. "Greenland is an incredible place, and the people will benefit tremendously if, and when, it becomes part of our nation. We will protect it, and cherish it, from a very vicious outside world."
The US is Denmark's biggest security guarantor, and when Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen previously called Trump's interest in purchasing the island "an absurd discussion", Trump canceled a pending state visit to Denmark.
Elections are coming up in Greenland in April and Greenland's Prime Minister Mute Egede has previously pushed for independence, but this would mean Greenland would need considerable new external financial support because it currently receives $550 million each year from Denmark, having become self-governing in 1979.
Egede dismissed the idea of the territory being sold to the US, saying: "We are not for sale and never will be for sale."
Denmark's deputy prime minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, echoed those thoughts, and also observed that Trump Jr's visit was claimed to be in a purely private capacity, adding that Denmark has "an interest in having a strong cooperation with the US regarding the Arctic".
Aaja Chemnitz, a member of the Danish parliament representing Greenland, wrote on Facebook warning the people of Greenland about allowing the election to be dominated by outside influences.
"Don't let Trump control the Greenland election campaign and leave the population as losers in that game," she wrote, saying it was "incredible that some can be so naive to think happiness is made by us becoming American citizens".
In late December, the Danish government announced a massive increase in defense spending for Greenland, just hours after Trump's comments, something Poulsen, who also serves as Denmark's defense minister, called an "irony of fate".
It was also noticed that over the Christmas period, Denmark's King Frederik X, who only took the throne less than a year ago following the abdication of his mother, Queen Margrethe II, changed the royal coat of arms to include Greenland and another Danish territory, the Faroe Islands, in a more prominent position.
