Greenland Prime Minister Múte Bourup Egede reasserted Wednesday that Greenland cannot be bought, in response to U.S. President Donald Trump, who said the United States would acquire the territory “one way or another” during his speech to Congress on Tuesday in Washington.
“Kalaallit Nunaat is ours,” Egede wrote on Facebook, using Greenlandic for the “Land of the People” or the “Land of the Greenlanders.”
“We don’t want to be Americans, nor Danes; we are Kalaallit [Greenlanders]. 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,” he added in his post, a week before Greenland heads to the polls for parliamentary elections.
Egede’s remarks come after Trump said the United States had “a message tonight for the incredible people of Greenland” while addressing a joint session of Congress in a televised speech on Tuesday.
“We strongly support your right to determine your own future, and if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America,” Trump said halfway through his 90-minute speech. “We will keep you safe. We will make you rich. And together we will take Greenland to heights like you have never thought possible before.”
Trump also said his administration was “working with everybody involved to try to get it,” referring to his wishes to acquire Greenland from Denmark, a longtime U.S. ally.
“We need it really for international world security. And I think we’re going to get it. One way or the other, we’re going to get it,” Trump said.
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“It’s a very small population, but a very, very large piece of land. And very, very important for military security.”
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, asked about Trump’s latest comments on Wednesday, said he did not think Greenlanders wanted to separate from Denmark in order to become “an integrated part of America.”
Løkke said he believed that Trump’s reference to respecting Greenlanders’ right to self-determination was “the most important part of that speech.”
“I’m very optimistic about what will be a Greenlandic decision about this. They want to loosen their ties to Denmark, we’re working on that, to have a more equal relationship,” Løkke said during a trip to Finland, adding that it was important that next week’s parliamentary elections are free and fair “without any kind of international intervention.”
Trump has been speaking about acquiring Greenland since he took office for the second time in January. When asked about Greenland by reporters on Jan. 20, Trump said, “Greenland is a wonderful place, we need it for international security. I’m sure that Denmark will come along — it’s costing them a lot of money to maintain it, to keep it.”
Egede addressed Trump’s comments in January, saying, “We are Greenlanders. We don’t want to be Americans. We don’t want to be Danish either. Greenland’s future will be decided by Greenland. Our country and our people will decide what happens to Greenland.”
Trump doubled down and said he wouldn’t rule out using force or economic pressure to make Greenland — a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark — part of the United States. Trump said it was a matter of national security for the U.S.
“We need Greenland for national security purposes,” Trump told reporters on Jan. 7.
Greenland, home to a large U.S. military base, is an autonomous territory of Denmark, a longtime U.S. ally and a founding member of NATO. Trump cast doubts on the legitimacy of Denmark’s claim to Greenland.
Addressing Trump’s comments in an interview with Danish broadcaster TV2, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called the United States Denmark’s “most important and closest ally,” and said she did not believe that the United States would use military or economic power to secure control over Greenland.
Frederiksen repeated that she welcomed the United States taking a greater interest in the Arctic region, but that it would “have to be done in a way that is respectful of the Greenlandic people,” she said.
“At the same time, it must be done in a way that allows Denmark and the United States to still co-operate in, among other things, NATO,” Frederiksen said.
In February, a new bill was introduced by U.S. Republican Rep. Buddy Carter that, if it passes the House and Senate, would give Trump the power to enter into negotiations with Denmark to acquire Greenland and rename it.
“America is back and will soon be bigger than ever with the addition of Red, White, and Blueland,” Carter said in a statement. “President Trump has correctly identified the purchase of what is now Greenland as a national security priority, and we will proudly welcome its people to join the freest nation to ever exist when our Negotiator-in-Chief inks this monumental deal.”
Carter’s proposal gives the Office of the Secretary of the Interior six months after the bill’s potential passage to ensure that federal documents are updated to reflect the new name of “Red, White, and Blueland.”
Trump initially voiced his interest in Greenland in 2019 during his first term in office. He said Greenland was “hurting Denmark very badly” and costing it US$700 million a year. His solution was to have the United States acquire Greenland, calling it “a large real estate deal.”
— With files from The Associated Press
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