Greenland’s leader signaled on Friday he is prepared to enter negotiations with Donald Trump about the Arctic territory’s future after the president-elect repeatedly suggested he would like the U.S. to acquire Greenland.
When asked by a reporter if he had discussed the idea with Trump, Greenlandic premier Múte Egede replied he has not yet but noted he wants to do so.
“We are ready to talk,” Egede said at a press conference in Denmark, where he was joined by Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen. “Cooperation is about dialogue. Cooperation means that you will work towards solutions.”
Greenland’s top leader recently expressed a long-held desire to pursue independence from Denmark and confirmed on Friday while he welcomes a discussion with Trump, Greenland does not want to become part of the U.S. either.
“We have a desire for independence, a desire to be the master of our own house. . . . This is something everyone should respect,” he added. “Greenland is for the Greenlandic people. We do not want to be Danish, we do not want to be American. We want to be Greenlandic.”
Denmark controlled Greenland as a colony from the early 18th century until 1979, when the sovereign nation granted home rule. In 2009, Greenland became self-governing after 75 percent of voters in the territory approved the measure in a referendum.
Denmark largely grants autonomy but retains responsibility for the island’s defense. To achieve complete independence, Greenland needs to hold another referendum with approval from the Danish parliament.
Egede’s remarks come days after Trump did not rule out using military or economic force to take Greenland and the Panama Canal. The incoming president said on Tuesday the U.S. needs Greenland for “national security purposes,” presumably to assert control over the territory’s rare earth minerals and keep watch on Russian and Chinese vessels in the Arctic Ocean.
“This is not just about Greenland,” Representative Mike Waltz (R., Fla.), who will leave the House to serve as Trump’s national security adviser come January 20, told Fox News host Jesse Watters. “This is about the Arctic. You have Russia that is trying to become king . . . this is about critical minerals, this is about natural resources . . . it’s oil and gas. It’s our national security. It’s critical minerals.”
As Trump made those unexpected comments, his firstborn son flew to Greenland, where he said he was visiting “as a tourist” and wasn’t meeting with Danish and Greenlandic officials about his father’s plan to buy the Arctic territory.
Accompanied by conservative media personality Charlie Kirk and incoming White House personnel director Sergio Gor, Donald Trump Jr. arrived in Greenland to reportedly shoot video content for a podcast, according to Newsweek. The team behind the hit documentary series, Art of the Surge, which took Americans behind the scenes in Trump’s inner circle leading up to the November election, filmed footage in Greenland for its second season.
Pipaluk Lynge, a member of Greenland’s parliament, took issue with Trump Jr.’s visit, telling Politico it was “all staged to make it seem like we — the Greenlandic people — were MAGA and love to be a part of the USA.”
A spokesperson for Trump Jr. rejected the Greenlandic lawmaker’s allegation that the visit was staged and called the criticism “ridiculous.”
Denmark officials have been conversing with Trump’s team in private messages, Axios reported, expressing their willingness to discuss boosting security for Greenland or increasing the American military’s presence on the island without ceding territorial control to the U.S.
Wholly opposed to Trump’s plan to acquire Greenland, Denmark boosted its defense spending last month.