A village in Greenland. (Shutterstock)

Danish PM Calls Trump’s Attempt to Buy Greenland Absurd

The US President Donald Trump confirmed on Sunday (8/19) that he is considering to buy Greenland, which mostly covered in ice, saying it’s essentially a large real estate deal.

The Wall Street Journal reported the president has been curious about the area’s geopolitical relevance and natural resources. He also had a private discussion with his advisor Larry Kudlow about the possibility for the US to acquire the territory.

The 772,000 square-mile islands of Greeland was colonized by Denmark in the 18th century. At present, it is a self-governed part of the country but depends on Danish economic support while handling its own domestic affairs.

Greenland has only 57,000 inhabitants who are mostly the indigenous Inuit community. It is rich with a lot of valuable resources such as minerals, fish stocks, seafood, renewable energy, as well as potential adventure tourism.

Trump also said by purchasing Greenland, the US will help and protect its ally Denmark since it has a great loss of US$700 million a year carrying it.

In response to this, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Greenland is not for sale and hoped what Trump has said was not serious. In line with Frederiksen, Greenland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs insisted that the country is open for business but not for sale.

Although the idea of buying Greenland is not on the top priority list in his administration, Trump would like to talk about it with Frederiksen and Prime Minister Kim Kielsen of Greenland on his visit to Copenhagen next month.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/donald-trump-greenland-confirms-interest-buying-danish-pm-11820386