COPENHAGEN: Donald Trump Jr made a private visit to Greenland on Tuesday, just weeks after his father restated his interest in the mineral- and oil-rich Danish autonomous territory, which itself wants independence. The US President-elect on Monday called the Arctic island “an incredible place”, promising that its people would prosper should it ever be annexed by Washington. “We will protect it, and cherish it, from a very vicious outside World. MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN!” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Trump later refused to rule out military intervention over the Panama Canal and Greenland, both of which he has said he wants the United States to control. “I can say this, we need them for economic security,” the incoming US president told reporters. “I am not going to commit to that (no military action). It might be that you have to do something.”

As Trump’s son touched down in his father’s “Trump Force One” private plane on what he said was a day trip, Danish Prime

Minister Mette Fredriksen warned: “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders.” But Trump Jr was at pains to point out he was not there “to buy Greenland”. “I will be talking to people. I’m just going there as a tourist,” he said on the social media platform Rumble. His father meanwhile dug his heels in, writing on Truth Social after Don Jr landed in Greenland that the island needed “safety, security, strength and PEACE! This is a deal that must happen”.

Greenland holds major mineral and oil reserves — though oil and uranium exploration are banned — and has a strategic location in the Arctic, already home to a US military base. Greenlandic media have said he would only be there for several hours and no official meetings were scheduled. “This particular trip is probably just as Trump Jr said himself, to make video content,” Ulrik Pram Gad, a Greenland expert at the Danish Institute for International Studies, told AFP. “What’s worrying is the way Trump (Sr) is talking about international relations, and it can be even worse if he starts ‘grabbing land’.”

Trump first said he wanted to buy Greenland in 2019 during his first term as president, an offer immediately quashed by Greenland and Denmark. “Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom,” Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede said after Trump’s Christmas message. “Most Greenlanders will be in line with their prime minister that Greenland is not for sale but open for business,” Pram Gad said.

Aaja Chemnitz, a lawmaker who represents Greenland in the Danish parliament, rejected Trump’s offer with a firm “No thank you”. “Unbelievable that some people can be so naive as to believe that our happiness lies in us becoming American citizens,” she wrote on Facebook, adding that she refused to be “a part of Trump’s wet dreams of expanding his empire to include our country”.

With 57,000 inhabitants spread out across 2.2 million sq km, Greenland is geographically closer to the North American continent than to Europe. Colonized by the Danes in the 18th century, it is located about 2,500 km from Copenhagen, on which it depends for more than half of its public budget. The subsidies it receives from Copenhagen amount to a fifth of its GDP. The other pillar of its economy is the fisheries industry.

Greenland has been autonomous since 1979 and has its own flag, language and institutions. But justice, monetary, defense and foreign affairs all remain under Danish control. The creation of the post of Arctic ambassador has caused friction between Copenhagen and Nuuk, after Denmark two years ago appointed a diplomat with no ties to the region.

At the end of December, the Danish government announced Nuuk would from now on appoint candidates to the post, and represent the country on the Arctic Council. In his New Year’s address, Greenland’s prime minister said the territory had to take “a step forward” and shape its own future, “notably when it comes to trading partners and the people with whom we should collaborate closely”.

In 2023, plans for a Greenlandic constitution were presented to the local parliament, the Inatsisartut. However, “there has been no public debate on it so far,” researcher Ulrik Pram Gad said. The issue could become a talking point during the upcoming campaign for Greenland’s legislative elections, which must be held before April 6. “I expect there to be more talks about the formal steps towards independence, how politicians intend to secure the welfare state and the future of Greenland,” he said.