PAPresident Donald Trump apparently still wants to buy Greenland, despite the Danish prime minister calling any discussion of a sale ‘absurd’.
Although the president’s interest in purchasing the autonomous Danish territory was first reported last week, Trump himself has now confirmed the matter, saying it would be ‘essentially a large real estate deal’.
Despite Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s rebuttal that Greenland is ‘not for sale’, Trump appears set in his thinking and has said ‘a lot of things can be done’.
PAInformation regarding the potential ‘sale’ was first reported last week, with two sources detailing how Trump repeatedly quizzed his advisers about buying Greenland with ‘varying degrees of seriousness’.
The president’s interest in the territory was immediately met with indignation from people in Greenland and Denmark, with its government remaining adamant it was not for sale.
Frederiksen said, as per Sermitsiaq newspaper (translated to English):
Greenland is not for sale. Greenland is not Danish. Greenland is Greenlandic. I persistently hope that this is not something that is seriously meant.
The prime minister then told Danish broadcaster DR, as per The Guardian, this was an ‘absurd discussion’, before adding: ‘Kim Kielsen [Greenland prime minister] has of course made it clear that Greenland is not for sale. That’s where the conversation ends.’
Regardless, The Guardian reports Larry Kudlow, the White House economic adviser, confirmed Trump’s interest in an interview on Sunday (August 18), before the president himself told reporters all about his plans as he returned to Washington.
Saying the concept ‘came up’ one time, Trump said he was ‘interested’ and he was ‘looking at it’ as an option. He also questioned how the news came to be reported in the media.
The president said that while ‘Denmark essentially owns’ Greenland, the US are ‘very good allies’ with them and so will protect them ‘like we protect large portions of the world’.
He explained to reporters on Sunday, as per The Guardian:
So the concept came up and I said, ‘Certainly I’d be.’ Strategically it’s interesting and we’d be interested but we’ll talk to them a little bit. It’s not number one on the burner, I can tell you that.
A lot of things can be done. Essentially it’s a large real estate deal. A lot of things can be done.
PATrump then claimed – without offering any evidence to support it – that ownership of Greenland was ‘hurting Denmark very badly because they’re losing almost $700m a year carrying it.’ He went on to say the country was carrying the island at ‘a great loss,’ whereas strategically for the US it would be ‘very nice’.
As per BBC News, approximately 57,000 people reside in Greenland, which is the world’s largest island with a limited self-government and its own parliament.
The USA has long since regarded Greenland as strategically important and established a radar base at Thule at the start of the Cold War.
Trump is due to make an unrelated state visit to Copenhagen on September 2, where he will meet with the prime ministers of both Denmark and Greenland.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).