Greenland is not for sale, its elected leader has said, responding to comments made by US president-elect Donald Trump regarding “ownership and control” of the vast Arctic island that has been part of Denmark for more than 600 years.
“Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom,” said prime minister Mute Egede.
Trump on Sunday announced that he had picked Ken Howery, a former envoy to Sweden, as his ambassador to Copenhagen and commented on Greenland’s status, a semi-autonomous part of Denmark and host to a large US air force base.
“For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the world, the United States of United States feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
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Trump, who takes office on January 20th, did not elaborate on the statement.
The Danish government must state in clear terms that control over Greenland is not up for discussion or negotiation, said Rasmus Jarlov MP of the Opposition Conservative Party on social media platform X.
“To the extent that US activities aim to take control of Danish territory, it must be prohibited and countered. Then they can’t be there at all,” said Mr Jarlov, who heads parliament’s defence committee.
The land mass, whose capital Nuuk is closer to New York than the Danish capital Copenhagen, boasts mineral, oil and natural gas wealth. However, development has been slow, leaving its economy reliant on fishing and annual subsidies from Denmark.
With its Pituffik airbase, Greenland is strategically important for the US military and its ballistic missile early-warning system, since the shortest route from Europe to North America runs via the island.
During his previous term in office, Mr Trump in 2019 expressed interest in buying Greenland, but the proposal was rejected promptly by Denmark as well as by the island’s authorities.
Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen at the time labelled Trump’s offer as “absurd”, leading him to term her dismissal of the idea as “nasty” and to subsequently cancel a visit to Copenhagen.
Ms Frederiksen remains in place as Danish prime minister.
Since 2009 Greenland has held the right to declare independence from Denmark. The population of some 56,000 inhabitants, which relies on significant budget transfers from Copenhagen annually, has so far refrained from doing so.
Separately, Mr Trump has also threatened to reassert US control over the Panama Canal, accusing Panama of charging excessive rates to use the Central American passage and drawing a sharp rebuke from Panamanian president José Raúl Mulino. – Reuters