US President Donald Trump has made a fresh appeal about Greenland, this time direct to its people, as he promised to “keep them safe” if they join the United States
Donald Trump has renewed his bizarre bid to make Greenland part of the United States, as he promised to keep its people “safe”
The US President first suggested buying Greenland in 2019 and returned to the notion with a vigour after his return to the Oval Office in January. Greenland is a self-governing territory of Denmark, and an independence movement has continued to gain support since it was given more autonomy.
Around 56,000 people call the island that lies off the north-eastern coast of Canada and is closer to Washington DC than it is to Copenhagen, home. Continuing his campaign for Denmark, Trump wrote on his Truth Social channel: “As I made clear during my Joint Address to Congress, the United States strongly supports the people of Greenland’s right to determine their own future.
“We will continue to keep you safe, as we have since World War II. We are ready to invest billions of dollars to create new jobs and make you rich. And, if you so choose, we welcome you to be a part of the Greatest Nation anywhere in the World, the United States of America.”
Trump wants to ensure the US controls mineral-rich Greenland, a country that guards the Arctic and North Atlantic approaches to North America. Last week Greenland’s prime minister shared a blunt message with the US President after he said he would gain control of the territory “one way or another” during his State of the Union address to Congress.
Using the Greenlandic name for the territory, Mute Bourup Egede told Mr Trump: “Kalaallit Nunaat is ours. We don’t want to be Americans, nor Danes, we are Kalaallit. The Americans and their leader must understand that. We are not for sale and cannot simply be taken. Our future will be decided by us in Greenland.”
The post ended with a clenched fist emoji and a Greenlandic flag. On the streets of the Greenlandic capital Nuuk, where the temperatures were -20C, people took Mr Trump’s threat seriously. Since Mr Trump entered the White House he has made multiple threats to take Greenland.
Lisa Aardestrup, 18, said becoming a part of the US would damage Greenland’s environment as well as the fishing industry which amounts to about 90 per cent of the country’s exports. She said: “We feel like it’s a bad idea, and we just more want to be like our little island that’s more independent than anything else.”
Amid concerns about foreign interference and demands that Greenlanders must control their own destiny, the island’s prime minister called an early parliamentary election for Tuesday.