By
Mar 05, 2025
Greenland’s prime minister, Múte Bourup Egede, issued a defiant response to U.S. President Donald Trump after he said America would eventually take control of the Arctic island.
“Americans and their leader need to understand this. We’re not for sale and can’t just be taken. Our future is decided by us in Greenland,” Egede wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday, declaring: “We are not Americans”.
Why It Matters
Greenland is a vast, resource-rich island to the northeast of Canada. It is a self-governing territory belonging to Denmark and has untapped oil and gas reserves, as well as sought-after rare earths, graphite, nickel, zinc, gold, tungsten and more.
Trump sees Greenland as a place of major strategic significance to the U.S. because of its resources and position in the Arctic, where China and Russia are active.
But his vocal desire to secure Greenland for the U.S. is creating yet more tension with Europe, and especially Denmark, a NATO ally.
What to Know
The U.S. president made his comments during an address to Congress on Tuesday evening.
“I also have a message tonight for the incredible people of Greenland. We strongly support your right to determine your own future and if you choose we welcome you into the United States of America,” Trump said.
“We need Greenland for national security and even international security, and we’re working with everybody involved to try and get it.
“But we need it really for international, for world security, and I think we’re going to get it. One way or the other, we’re going to get it.”
There is a strong independence movement in Greenland and some of the population would like to fully break away from Danish control. But opinion polls suggest that does not translate into a desire to join the U.S. instead.
A poll by Verian in January 2025 found that 85 percent of Greenlanders did not want to leave the Danish Realm and become part of the U.S. But 56 percent of Greenlanders said they would vote yes in an independence referendum.
Read more at Greenland’s Leader Gives Defiant Response to Trump – Newsweek
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