President-elect Donald Trump has claimed that Greenlanders would ‘benefit tremendously’ by joining the US.
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Donald Trump Jr is due to visit Greenland on Tuesday afternoon, the autonomous Arctic territory his father has controversially said should become part of the US.
The 47-year-old is travelling to the world’s largest island, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and which houses a large US military base, in a personal capacity to shoot some video for his podcast, Triggered.
In the latest episode of the show, which was released on Monday, Trump Jr described his Tuesday visit as a “very long, personal day trip”.
“We want to meet people,” he said. “They seem like a great bunch of people.”
According to the Danish broadcaster DR, Mininnguaq Kleist, the head of foreign affairs in Greenland, said Trump Jr would not be meeting any government officials.
It is unclear what sort of reception Trump Jr will receive. But it might well be frosty, given his father’s language about Greenland in recent weeks.
During his first presidential term, Trump Sr mused about the outlandish possibility of buying Greenland. Ahead of his inauguration on 20 January, he has renewed calls for the territory to become American.
Writing on his social media site Truth Social on Monday, he said: “My son, Don Jr, and various representatives, will be travelling there to visit some of the most magnificent areas and sights.“
“Greenland is an incredible place, and the people will benefit tremendously if, and when, it becomes part of our nation,” the president-elect claimed. “We will protect it, and cherish it, from a very vicious outside world. Make Greenland Great Again.”
Without citing any evidence, the billionaire Elon Musk, who is a close Trump ally, suggested on Monday that Greenlanders would support the president-elect’s idea. “The people of Greenland should decide their future and I think they want to be part of America,” he wrote on X, the social media platform that he owns.
This suggestion ignores comments made in December by Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte B Egede, who dismissed Trump’s idea as fanciful.
“We are not for sale and will never be for sale,” he said in a statement. “We must not lose our years-long fight for freedom.”
Greenland gained home rule from Denmark in 1979. However, Egede would like the territory to become independent, saying in his new year speech that it was time to shake off “the shackles of colonialism”.
With tensions high between Greenland and Denmark, Danish King Frederik changed the royal coat of arms this month to give greater prominence to the symbols of a polar bear and a ram, which represent Greenland and the Faroe Islands, respectively.
Speaking of Greenland, “we belong together,” the monarch said.