After accusing the Trump administration Monday of “a lack of respect,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told a local broadcaster Wednesday that he welcomed the White House’s decision to step back from an uninvited visit to the Greenlandic people.
Denmark still controls decisions on the foreign and defense policy of the island that is home to 56,000 people.
Earlier this week, Trump doubled down on his suggestion that the U.S. should take over the sparsely populated island, saying it was important for national security.
“I think Greenland is going to be something that maybe is in our future,” Trump told reporters Monday, adding, “People from Greenland are asking us to go there.”
Calling the visit “unofficial,” outgoing Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede said in another post on Facebook on Monday that the move by U.S. officials was “neither appropriate nor acceptable between allied and friendly nations.”
Trump’s repeated comments about taking over Greenland in recent months have galvanized the political sphere of the vast island where independence has long been broadly popular.
During a tightly contested parliamentary election held earlier this month, all candidates said they did not want their island to become part of the U.S. On March 15, nearly a thousand Greenlanders marched across the capital, Nuuk, to protest against Trump’s proposed annexation.
A surprise election result saw the pro-business Demokraatit party defeat Egede’s ruling Inuit Ataqatigiit party, but it has yet to form a coalition government. In the meantime, a caretaker government is overseeing Greenland’s affairs.
During the vote earlier this month, the eventual winner, incumbent prime minister and leader of the Demokraatit party Jens-Frederik Nielsen told NBC News international partner Sky News that “we don’t want to be Americans. No, we don’t want to be Danes. We want to be Greenlanders.”
