Greenland says despite Trump’s threats and son’s visit, they aren’t for sale – National

If Donald Trump continues to talk about control over Greenlandhis eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.traveled to the autonomous Dutch territory on Tuesday – but Greenlandic and Danish officials make it clear that they want nothing to do with it what the Trumps propose.

“Don Jr. and my reps landed in Greenland,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, on Tuesday. “The reception was great. They, and the free world, need safety, security, strength and PEACE! This is a deal that needs to happen. STOMACH. MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN!”

In a statement, Greenland’s government said the younger Trump’s visit was taking place “as a private person” and not as an official visit, and Greenlandic representatives would not meet him.

Furthermore, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Tuesday that “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders.” The island is “not for sale,” she said, adding that “we must remain calm and stick to our principles.”

Trump Jr., speaking on a podcast Monday, said he made the trip without political motivations, calling it a “personal day trip.” However, the visit had political overtones.

The president-elect has expressed a desire – also expressed during his first presidency – to acquire the area in the Arctic, an area of ​​strategic importance for the US, China, Russia and others.

And shortly after his son arrived in Greenland, Trump told a press conference that he would not exclude the use of military force or economic coercion to take control of Greenland, saying that “we need it for national security.”

Greenland, the largest island in the world, lies between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans and 80 percent of it is covered by an ice sheet. The autonomous region has about 56,000 inhabitants, most of them native Inûyt.

Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede has called for independence from Denmark, saying in a New Year’s speech that it would be a way for Greenland to free itself from its colonial past. But Egede has also said that he has no interest in Greenland being part of the US, insisting that the island is not for sale.

Independence has become an important topic for an election for the Greenlandic parliament. A date has not been set, but it should take place no later than April 6.

Aaja Chemnitz, a Greenlandic member of the Danish parliament, told The Associated Press that she no interest in Greenland becoming part of the US and said she hears the same sentiment from her constituents.

“Most people don’t want it,” she said. “I think some people find it quite disrespectful. And the way it’s done, and just the fact that you’re saying you can buy another country.”

Trump is also setting his sights on Canada

Greenland is not the only location outside the US that Trump has talked about taking over and becoming part of the United States; he can’t stop talking about Canada becomes the 51st state.

At the same Tuesday press conference where he said he would not rule out military force or economic coercion on Greenland, he threatened similar action against Canada.

When asked by a reporter if he considered “annexing Canada and getting it,” Trump replied, “No — economic power.”

“Canada and the United States, that would really be something,” he said. “You get rid of that artificially drawn line, and you look at what that looks like, and it would also be much better for national security.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded shortly after Trump’s threat, writing on social media that “isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada should become part of the United States.”

“Workers and communities in both our countries benefit from being each other’s largest trade and security partner,” he added.

Trump has repeatedly stated that the US “subsidizes” Canada to the tune of US$200 billion in trade and spends billions more on continental defense programs such as NORAD than Canada, which he said “has essentially no military.”

“We don’t need their cars, we don’t need their wood,” he continued. “We they don’t need anything. We don’t need their dairy products.

“We don’t need anything. So why are we losing $200 billion a year and more to protect Canada?

– With files from Sean Boynton of Global News and The Associated Press

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