Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede said the island nation is “not for sale and will never be for sale” after President-elect Donald Trump suggested the US take it over.
Trump posted on social media early Monday that “the United States of America believes ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity for the purposes of national security and freedom around the world.” Greenland, a large icy Arctic island with over 50,000 inhabitants, is a self-governing territory of Denmark. The Greenland leader reacted quickly.
“Greenland is ours,” Egede wrote. “We are not for sale and never will be. We must not lose our long fight for freedom.”
The post came just hours after Trump announced his intention Nominate Ken Howery to be U.S. Ambassador to Denmark. Howery served as U.S. ambassador to Sweden during Trump’s first term.
This is not the first time that Trump has suggested that the US somehow buy the island. In 2019, during Trump’s first term, he said he considered purchasing Greenland for strategic reasons. Greenland’s leadership also made it clear then that the island was not for sale.
Over the weekend, Trump also appeared to suggest that the U.S. should take over the Panama Canal, which is owned and operated by the state-owned Panama Canal Authority. According to the US State Department, the US uses the canal more than any other country: 72% of all ships travel to or from US ports.
Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino responded that “every square meter” of the canal “belongs to Panama and will continue to belong to Panama.”
“We’ll see!” Trump posted after Mulion’s answer.
The Panama Canal was built by the United States in the early 1900s and returned to Panama through a treaty signed by former President Jimmy Carter in 1977.
