Last week it emerged that the US President had held serious talks with US officials concerning the potential purchase of Greenland from Denmark. When the news broke, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told reporters that Trump’s talk of purchasing the island, and the chance of Denmark selling the island, was “an absurd discussion”. In predictable style, Trump has cancelled the meeting that was supposed to take place between himself and the Danish PM next month. Using Twitter to break the news, the US President tweeted: “Denmark is a very special country with incredible people, but based on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s comments, that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland, I will be postponing our meeting scheduled in two weeks for another time.
“The Prime Minister was able to save a great deal of expense and effort for both the United States and Denmark by being so direct. I thank her for that and look forward to rescheduling sometime in the future!”
Questions have been asked of why Trump would want to buy the island in the first place, and what purpose it would serve the US.
One reason many have argued can be found in a tweet sent out by the President yesterday, in which a photo of Trump Tower can be seen photoshopped onto the shores of Greenland.
This was accompanied by the sarcastic caption: “I promise not to do this to Greenland.”
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Ms Frederisken has previously told Danish broadcaster DR: “It’s an absurd discussion, and Kim Kielsen (Greenland’s premier) has of course made it clear that Greenland is not for sale. That’s where the conversation ends.”
The Wall Street Journal claimed that Trump asked advisers whether the US could acquire Greenland and listened to their explanations over its geopolitical significance as well as potential natural resource accumulation.
While some supported the prospect of the US buying the island, the newspaper reported that others dismissed it as “fleeting fascination” that will never happen.
On Sunday, Trump confirmed that he had recently discussed the possibility of buying the island, though he said it was not an immediate priority.
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He said: “The concept came up and… strategically it’s interesting. (Although) it is not number one on the burner – I can tell you that.”
Greenland has a population of just 56,000 and is an autonomous region of Denmark, following Danish colonisation that began in 1721.
Trump is not the first president to speculate buying Greenland – former president Harry Truman went one step further and made an offer of $100million in gold.
The president’s move mirrors that of the US Secretary of State William Seward ’s purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867 for a fee of $7.2million.