Greenland counters Trump: “Will never be for sale”

US President-elect Donald Trump is biting the granite in Greenland with his request to take control of the island, which belongs to the Danish kingdom. “Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale,” said the self-governing territory’s head of government, Mute Egede, on Monday. “We must not lose our long fight for freedom.” Trump said on Sunday that the US believes it is an “absolute necessity” to own and control Greenland “in the interest of national security and freedom in the world.”

Trump, who will succeed US President Joe Biden on January 20, initially did not explain his ideas further. The Danish government was not immediately available for comment. Trump had already shown interest in Greenland during his first term in office. At that time he wanted to buy the island, but was promptly rejected by the Danish government and the Greenlandic authorities.

Greenland is of high strategic importance for the USA. They have an air base there with an early warning system for ballistic missiles, as the shortest route from Europe to North America passes through the island. Around 56,000 people live on Greenland. The island has extensive autonomy. However, it has so far refrained from achieving complete independence from Denmark. Greenland is economically dependent on Copenhagen to a large extent.

In addition to Greenland, Trump also targeted Panama over the weekend. He threatened to take control of the important shipping canal there because Panama was ripping off the US on fees. Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino declared in return that “every square meter of the Panama Canal and the surrounding area belongs to Panama and will continue to do so.”