Trump weighed in on the issue on Christmas Eve, posting that “the ownership and control” of the Danish territory was “an absolute necessity” on Truth Social.
Hours later, the Danish government announced it would boost defense spending for the island by a “double digit billion amount,” or at least $1.5 billion. The timing of that announcement was an “irony of fate,” according to Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen.
But Trump has been undeterred.
“Greenland is an incredible place, and the people will benefit tremendously if, and when, it becomes part of our Nation. We will protect it, and cherish it, from a very vicious outside World,” he posted on Truth Social ahead of his son’s visit.
Trump Jr.’s trip was set to last four to five hours, according to the island’s permanent secretary for foreign affairs, Mininnguaq Kleist.
“We have not been briefed on the nature of his program, and therefore this is a private visit,” Kleist told Reuters.
Shortly after his arrival Trump Jr. was filmed on a phone call with his father in a restaurant.
As one of Trump Jr.’s team held up the phone, the President-elect could be heard saying that Greenland was a “very special place.”
“It need’s security for itself and it also needs security very much for the world,” he said. “We need security and our country needs it and the whole world needs it,” he added, before the crowd start applauding.
Trump Jr. replied that his team was “learning a lot” and Greenland was “incredibly beautiful.” He added that the welcome they had received was “spectacular.”
The Danish Foreign Affairs Ministry told NBC News that it had “noted” the visit but did not comment further because it was “not an official American visit.”
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Tuesday that the future of Greenland would be decided by Greenland, calling the United States the most important ally of Denmark.
Her response echoed the unequivocal stance of Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede, who told Trump in December that “Greenland is not for sale.”
Yet, the feud could add fuel to calls for Greenland’s independence from Denmark, whose proponents may hope to “exploit the Trump interest to elevate their own political goal,” rather than replace Danish authority with the Americans, Aagaard said.
Egede has called on the territory to “break free” from the “shackles of the colonial era,” adding that it would soon adopt a new self-government act to chart its own future away from Denmark.
“We must not lose our long struggle for freedom,” he said.
But in Denmark, most politicians saw Trump Jr’s visit as “quite annoying,” Aagaard said, adding that “there is a clear Danish interest in maintaining Greenland as part of the Commonwealth, though the Danes are aware that Denmark can never defend Greenland alone.”
