Greenland to Trump: We’re not for sale, but let’s talk

Nuuk, Greenland: Greenland is ready to talk.

Responding to the diplomatic earthquake set off last week by President-elect Donald Trump, who mused about taking over the gigantic island in the Arctic Ocean, Greenland’s prime minister said the territory would like to work more closely with the United States on defence and natural resources.

A statue commemorating Hans Egede, the Danish missionary who founded Nuuk in 1728, stands on a hill overlooking the town in Greenland.Credit: Ivor Prickett/The New York Times

“The reality is we are going to work with the US – yesterday, today and tomorrow,” Prime Minister Múte Egede said at a news conference in Nuuk, Greenland’s tiny, icebound capital on Monday (Tuesday AEDT).

But he was firm: Greenlanders did not want to become Americans.

“We have to be very smart on how we act,” he said, adding: “The power struggles between the superpowers are rising and are now knocking on our door.”

Trump refused to rule out using economic or military force to wrest back the Panama Canal and to take Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark that he suggested buying during his first term in office. Then, as now, Greenland and Denmark said the island was not for sale. Panama’s leaders, too, rejected the threat.

Egede said that “all of us were shocked” by Trump’s words, which were accentuated by a surprising and somewhat mysterious visit by the president-elect’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, to the island on the same day.

The younger Trump did a lightning-fast sightseeing tour, saying he was on private business, and since then, headlines around the world have blared Greenland.

Most of Greenland’s territory is covered in ice, only about 56,000 people live here and, until recently, the island was best known for its icebergs and polar bears. As climate change melts the Arctic ice, the region has been quietly falling into the crosshairs of the world’s powers.

The United States, Russia, European countries, China and others have been eyeing the Arctic’s shipping lanes and the extensive mineral resources that are no longer considered out of reach.

People walk through the center of Nuuk, Greenland, during the short daylight hours that the town gets at this time of year, Credit: Ivor Prickett/The New York Times

The island has been tied to Denmark for centuries, first as a colony and now as a separate territory that has achieved a large degree of autonomy in recent years. Denmark still controls the island’s foreign affairs and defence policy.

But the surge in interest by international powers dovetails with Greenland’s quest to gain independence – an itch that has only grown stronger. At the same time, many people here are reluctant to completely cut ties with Denmark because of the hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies that Denmark provides each year.

In Nuuk, which was a sunny 17 degrees on Monday afternoon, many people were eagerly waiting to hear what the prime minister was going to say.

“Whatever happens, there’s no turning back,” said Aviaq Kleist, the owner of a cafe in the Nuuk Centre, the city’s biggest mall, with a couple of dozen shops. She joked that maybe Egede would suddenly declare independence.

A young Inuit girl and her mother wait inside a bus shelter in Nuuk, Greenland.Credit: Ivor Prickett/The New York Times

Egede did not – he danced around the question, saying the country had been steadily working toward the goal but that “different parties have different views”. (There’s also a clear independence process that involves a referendum, should it come to that.)

The prime minister also expressed relief at comments that incoming vice president J.D. Vance made on a Fox News show at the weekend. Though Vance didn’t exactly rule out military force, saying, “We don’t have to use military force” because “we already have troops in Greenland”, his tone was upbeat as he spoke about Greenland’s “incredible natural resources” and “a deal to be made”.

The United States has been interested in Greenland for years. During World War II, it established bases here, and after the war, it tried to buy Greenland from Denmark, which refused. Today, the US military runs the Pituffik Space Base, which specialises in missile defence, at the northern end of the island.

In Nuuk on Monday, people seemed to be on the same page as the prime minister, expressing a mix of hope and caution. Several said they did not want to be swallowed by the United States. But they did want a stronger partnership with America.

“What we really need is more cooperation and trade,” said fisherman Nielseeraq Berthelsen. He was working at an ice-encrusted seafood market, selling hunks of whale skin and bright-red seal meat.

He said that he was walking through another mall last week when someone approached him out of the blue and invited him to a special dinner.

Next thing he knew, he said, he was shaking the younger Trump’s hand.

“He had a lot of enthusiasm,” said Berthelsen, who was standing in air so cold that his eyes watered as he talked. “He had good energy.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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