President-elect Donald Trump’s renewed interest in Greenland is not going over well with the autonomous territory’s government.
The island’s prime minister was defiant in the face of the president-elect’s demands Sunday that owning the island was an “absolute necessity” for the United States.
“Greenland is ours,” Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte Egede said in a statement Monday. “We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom.”
The Arctic island is an autonomous territory of Denmark, and has held the right to declare independence since 2009.
Trump signaled his renewed interest in the territory when he announced his intention to nominate Ken Howery as the ambassador to Denmark. “For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity,” the president-elect wrote after touting Howery’s credentials.
Howery, who previously served as ambassador to Sweden during Trump’s first term in office, did not immediately comment on the shift in priorities.
“I look forward to working with the dedicated teams at U.S. Embassy Copenhagen and U.S. Consulate Nuuk in Greenland to deepen the bonds between our countries,” he said in a post on X thanking the president-elect.
Sources close to the president-elect told the New York Post on Monday that he is “100% serious” about acquiring Greenland, as well as reasserting control over the Panama Canal Zone—an idea he also floated over the weekend, accusing the Central American nation of charging American ships “exorbitant” fees to use the passage.
Trump first floated the idea of purchasing Greenland in 2019. The idea was roundly rejected by Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen at the time, who called the sale of the self-governing island “absurd.” The incident led to minor diplomatic spat between the two NATO allies, and the Trump administration ended up canceling a diplomatic visit to Copenhagen.
Frederiksen is still leading the Nordic nation’s government. But this time around, Frederiksen’s office told DR, Denmark’s public broadcaster, they had no comment on Trump’s Greenland overtures. The office instead referred reporters to Egede’s statement.
The idea was roundly criticized by members of Denmark’s parliament. Karsten Hønge, a socialist member of parliament, called the move “crude and cynical great power policy,” DR reported. Rasmus Jarlov, a conservative member of parliament, also called the ambitions “unacceptable.”
Greenland is sparsely populated, but has large deposits of rare earth minerals that are used in components for consumer goods such as electric vehicles.
The U.S. has maintained Pituffik Space Base, previously known as Thule Air Force Base, on the island’s northwestern coast since World War II. As the US military’s northernmost base, Pituffik serves an important role in maintaining the nation’s missile warning and defense systems.
