No joking matter: Trump is set on buying Greenland

As outlandish as it may sound, making it seem like a big joke, when Donald Trump has spoken about buying Greenland, he is dead serious.

"This is not a joke," said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio referring to Donald Trump buying Greenland, Politico reports.

Speaking on the "Megyn Kelly Show", Rubio added, "This is not about acquiring land for the purpose of acquiring land. This is in our national interest and it needs to be solved.”

According to The Financial Times, the US President engaged in a fiery phone conversation with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen  over the issue shortly after settling into the White House.

A former Danish official told The Guardian the call was a “very tough conversation” in which Trump “threatened specific measures against Denmark such as targeted tariffs”.

An autonomous territory, with its own Prime Minister and parliament, Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark but is hoping to hold a referendum on independence this year, as hinted at by its leader, Múte Egede.

“Greenland belongs to the people of Greenland,” he said. “Our future and fight for independence is our business,” CNN reports.

“I can notice a strong wish amongst many Greenlanders to move toward independence,” the Danish Prime Minister said in Politico as the issue of Greenland being handed over to the US surfaced once more.

“It is legitimate, and therefore I think that it is important that Greenland’s future is shaped in [the Greenlandic capital] Nuuk.”

Donald Trump’s son Don Jr flew into Nuuk on a rapid five-hour “jolly” that saw a large number of Greenlanders wearing MAGA caps, giving the impression they were on board with the US taking over their land.

In a bid to reinforce the image, Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social: “Don Jr. and my Reps landing in Greenland. The reception has been great.”

“They, and the Free World, need safety, security, strength, and PEACE! This is a deal that must happen. MAGA. MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN!” he added.

But, according to the BBC, the reason so many observers were sporting MAGA caps was simply because Don Jr’s entourage was handing them out for free.

Greenlandic member of Denmark’s parliament Aaja Chemnitz also stressed to CNN that those images were misleading, adding that a number of Greenlanders had told her they would leave the territory if it fell into Trump’s hands.

Both Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte Egede and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen have said in the past that the island is “not for sale and will never be for sale,” while Egede posted on Facebook on January 7 that “Greenland belongs to the people of Greenland.”

But as Trump has come to believe US possession of Greenland to be “an absolute necessity”, Danish politicians are treading more carefully in order to avoid a major clash with a NATO ally.

This is despite the fact that any use of US military force which Trump has not ruled out would breach both the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty on which NATO is founded and the 1945 United Nations Charter, the Conversation reports.

Meanwhile, Greenland’s public broadcaster KNR measured the public response to Trump’s ambitions and received a surprising range of opinions.

“I see Donald Trump’s interest in Greenland as very dangerous,” Greenlander Jens Danielsen told KNR. He worried that the language would disappear and that Trump would plunder the island’s many natural resources.

Others, such as Student Imaakka Boassen, said, “I don’t completely trust the Danes. Maybe I would have more trust in Trump.”

And then there was the issue of prices, with goods from Denmark being so expensive that some expressed the idea the US would mean a better deal at the supermarket.

A number of other residents, however, were focused on the island’s independence from both the United States and Denmark.

Never miss a story! Click here to follow The Daily Digest.