Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede said Monday that the Danish self-governing territory was open to closer relations with the United States, particularly in areas with untapped mineral resources, and was seeking “opportunities for cooperation with Trump”.
The US president-elect, who takes office on January 20, caused an earthquake last week when he refused to rule out military intervention to bring the Panama Canal and Greenland under US control. Vice President-elect JD Vance, for his part, told Fox News that the United States did not need to use military force, noting that it already had troops in Greenland. The United States indeed has a military base in the northwest of Greenland.
“We started a dialogue”
At a press conference, Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede said the territory was open to closer ties with the United States, according to Greenlandic public broadcaster KNR. “We need to do business with the United States. We have started to start a dialogue and look for opportunities for cooperation with Trump,” emphasized Mute Egede. The territory has “its doors open in terms of mining. It will be the same in the years to come. We must trade with the United States,” he insisted.
The territory, which aspires to its independence from Denmark, arouses desire for its natural resources – although oil prospecting and uranium exploitation are prohibited there – and for its geostrategic importance – which explains why the United States have a military base there.
Donald Trump first said he wanted to buy Greenland in 2019 during his first presidential term, a proposal that was resolutely rejected by Greenland and Denmark. During a visit to Denmark last week, Mute Egede said the territory was “entering a new era, a new era where Greenland is at the center of the world.” He stipulated that Greenland would continue to cooperate with the United States, while emphasizing that it would be on its own terms and that it was “the Greenlandic people who decide their future.”
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