Trump wants an island – Greenland head of government: I don’t want to be American

“The future of Greenland will be decided by Greenland and the Greenlandic people. That is of course the starting point of all the cooperation we have,” Egede announced at a joint press conference with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in Copenhagen.

Frederiksen also emphasized that the Greenlanders themselves decided their future: “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders, to no one else!”

Trump had previously expressed interest in Greenland, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, several times. At a press conference in his hometown of Mar-a-Lago, he did not rule out using the army to gain control of the island or the Panama Canal. He had already stated in December: “In the interests of national security and freedom around the world, the United States believes that possession and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.”

“Master in his own house”
Egede now made it clear that the Greenlandic desire to be independent and ‘lord of one’s own home’ was understandable to most peoples on earth. “We don’t want to be Danes. We don’t want to be Americans. Of course we want to be Greenlanders,” he said.

Greenland is part of the North American continent and therefore a place that Americans consider part of their continent. We will continue to work with the US in the future – but in dialogue and on Greenlandic grounds.

Greenland is largely autonomous, but officially belongs to the Kingdom of Denmark. The world’s largest island receives strong financial support from Copenhagen, and the Danish government also largely decides foreign and security issues in the so-called imperial community. Many Greenlanders have long wanted an independent state – an issue that also plays an important role in the election campaign ahead of Greenland’s parliamentary elections this spring.