Axios reported on Saturday that Danish and Greenlandic leaders have been in contact with President-elect Trump to express openness to an expanded U.S. military presence on the world’s largest island.
danish leader reportedly Axios reports that Greenland is not for sale, but that Trump has indicated to his team that he is open to discussing a number of other possibilities.
Denmark’s government is keen to avoid a public confrontation with Trump and has asked him to explain its plans for Greenland, the newspaper reported.
President Trump has renewed his previous interest in the giant island, which Denmark maintains security control over, in recent weeks.
Aerial photo taken on August 15, 2019 shows icebergs floating along Greenland’s eastern coast near Kursk (also spelled Kursk). Jonathan Knackstrand/AFP via Getty Images
“For the purposes of national security and freedom around the world, the United States feels that ownership and control of Greenland is absolutely necessary,” Trump wrote in a December post on Truth Social, shared by PayPal. I wrote this while announcing the selection of founder Ken Howley. As Ambassador to Denmark.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede said at a joint press conference with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Friday that he was ready to speak to President Trump. But pro-independence Egede also said Greenland did not want to be Danish or American.
“We have a desire to be independent, to be the masters of our own homes…this is something that everyone should respect,” Egede said on Friday. “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders. We don’t want to be Danes, we don’t want to be Americans. We want to be Greenlanders.”
Some Greenlanders expressed intrigue and even excitement at the prospect of joining the American ranks. (Related: ‘Amazing idea’: Scott Jennings says buying Greenland would be a ‘great legacy’ for Donald Trump)
“See you again, Donald,” one resident wearing a red hat told a photographer from a delegation led by Trump’s eldest son, Don Jr.
Donald Trump Jr. has arrived in Greenland. 👀 pic.twitter.com/q0ElwYRwfi
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) January 7, 2025
President Trump’s new call echoes a 2019 plan to buy the island from Denmark that he ultimately abandoned during his first term after Prime Minister Fredrickson shot him down.
Denmark is a very special country with wonderful people, but the meeting, scheduled for two weeks later, has been postponed to another time after Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she was not interested in discussing the purchase of Greenland. I will…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 20, 2019
His latest salvo against the resource-rich island included national security concerns. “We need Greenland for national security reasons,” he said at a press conference Tuesday at Mar-a-Lago.
Asked at the same press conference whether he could rule out military or economic coercion in Greenland, he said: “I can’t guarantee either.”
He also addressed global security at the press conference, citing the growing influence of Russia and China in the region and the need to counter it.
“You don’t even need binoculars. You look out and there are Chinese ships everywhere, Russian ships everywhere. We’re not letting that happen, we’re not letting that happen,” he said. I did.
This aerial photo taken on August 15, 2023 shows the Greenlandia sailing between icebergs released by glaciers around Milne Land due to warmer temperatures in Scoresby Sound Fjord, eastern Greenland. The expedition’s sailing ship “Camac” is shown. France’s National Center for Scientific Research is conducting an expedition to explore an isolated fjord in Greenland, the largest fjord system on Earth, which remains poorly studied. The expedition has been arranged by Greenlandia, a volunteer-run French initiative dedicated to understanding the impact of climate change on Scoresby Fjord and its inhabitants. Olivier Morin/AFP via Getty Images
He threatened to impose tariffs if Denmark tried to block Greenland’s decision to join the United States.
Greenland decided to move towards independence through a referendum in 2008 and an autonomy law in 2009.
If the US military presence is strengthened, the Pitufik space base, which is already manned by the US, will be further strengthened. The base includes a radar station that is part of the U.S. Ballistic Missile Early Warning System. According to to the Department of Defense.
The Daily Caller reached out to members of the Trump campaign for confirmation, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
