Donald Trump Jr is heading to Greenland two weeks after his father reiterated his desire that the US should take control of the autonomous Danish territory, although the son of the US president-elect said he was going as a tourist on a “very long, personal day trip” to talk to people and had no plans to meet with government representatives or buy it, on Tuesday, the 7th of January, report the BBC and Reuters.
Trump, who takes office on the 20th of January, recently threatened to restore control over the Panama Canal and last month said that US control over Greenland was an “absolute necessity”.
Trump said on Monday that his son and various representatives would visit Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, to see “some of the most magnificent sites and sights”.
“Greenland is an incredible place and its people will benefit enormously if and when it becomes part of our country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday. “We will protect and spare it from a very malicious outside world. MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN!”
Last month, Trump revived failed efforts to acquire the territory from Denmark during his first term. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called Trump’s 2019 plan “absurd”.
Trump Jr himself said in his podcast Triggered: “No, I will not buy Greenland.”
But a video shared by Trump on Truth Social showed an unnamed Greenlander wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat telling Trump that he should buy Greenland and free it from Danish “colonisation”.
NEW: Greenland man throws on a MAGA hat and tells Donald Trump to buy the territory.
The video was shared by Trump on Truth Social, where the president-elect vowed to protect and cherish Greenland “when it becomes part of” the United States.
“I am hearing that the people of… pic.twitter.com/JzxIaAoWCM
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 6, 2025
The Danish government did not comment much on the visit of the President-elect’s son, saying it was not an official visit and no meeting was planned.
However, several opposition politicians have expressed concern.
Conservative lawmaker Rasmus Jarlov wrote in English on social media that “this level of disrespect from the next US President towards very, very loyal allies and friends is record-setting”.
Greenland, home to a US air base, is strategically important for the US military and for its ballistic missile early warning system, as it is the shortest route from Europe to North America. Its capital, Nuuk, is closer to New York than to Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark.
Greenland, with only 57 000 inhabitants, also boasts mineral, oil and natural gas resources. But development has been slow, so its economy depends on fishing and annual subsidies from Denmark.
“We are not for sale, and we will not be for sale,” said the island’s Prime Minister, Mute Bourup Egede, in December. “Greenland belongs to Greenlanders.”
But in his New Year address last week, Egede called for independence, saying the island must free itself from the “shackles of colonialism”.
“Greenland is open and those who wish to visit us are welcome,” Greenland’s foreign ministry said late on Monday.
A few hours after President Trump reiterated his interest in acquiring Greenland last month, the Danish government announced an increase in defence spending on the island. Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen described it as “an irony of fate”.
Trump is not the first US President to propose buying Greenland. The idea was first floated in the 1860s by the country’s 17th president, Andrew Johnson.