Greenland’s public broadcaster has been canvassing residents’ opinions on US President-elect Donald Trump’s pitch to buy the autonomous Danish territory – and some of their responses might raise some eyebrows.
While some of those questioned described Trump’s interest as “dangerous” and “worrying,” others suggested they might “have more trust in Trump” and “choose the USA.”
The interviews by Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa (KNR) on Wednesday came a day after a press conference in which Trump reiterated his desire to obtain control over the vast Arctic island, and told reporters he would not rule out using military or economic coercion to achieve his aim. They also come amid a widely publicized trip to the island by Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.
Some residents canvassed by KNR criticized Trump Sr.’s comments, saying they would prefer the island to remain under Danish control.
“I see Donald Trump’s interest in Greenland as very dangerous,” said Greenlander Jens Danielsen.
“We are so few inhabitants, under 100,000, that I fear that our language would disappear very quickly, so I (would) prefer to stay under Denmark because the relationship between Greenlanders and Danes works well as it is,” he added.
Danielsen said he was also concerned at suggestions that Trump might be interested in obtaining control over Greenland to extract uranium and raw materials. “If that is why he is interested, it is worrying,” he said.
On Tuesday, Trump had said the US “needs” Greenland “for economic security,” but some experts have suggested he may also be eyeing the island’s trove of natural resources – including rare earth metals – which may become more accessible as climate change melts the territory’s ice.
‘Maybe I would have more trust in Trump’
But others canvassed by KNR appeared more open to Trump’s overtures.
“Everything is just getting more and more expensive here. Goods from Denmark are extremely expensive, so of course the USA seems more attractive,” cleaning assistant Karen Kielsen said.
Others saw the debate in light of the island’s independence movement.
Student Imaakka Boassen said, “I don’t completely trust the Danes. Maybe I would have more trust in Trump.”
“There are so many Danes in leading positions in Greenland, but when we live in Greenland, it should be Greenlanders who lead,” he added.
Another resident, Anguteq Larsen, told KNR he would prefer Greenland to be independent, without having to rely on either Denmark or the US.
Danish, American … or neither?
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 Tuesday that “Greenland belongs to the people of Greenland.”
However, despite those rebuttals, debate over Greenland’s future has been stirred up by growing speculation over its independence movement.
In his recent New Year’s speech, the Greenland prime minister said the island should break free from “the shackles of colonialism” – though the speech did not mention the United States.
Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told a press briefing on Wednesday the independence issue should be seen separately to Trump’s comments.
“We fully recognise that Greenland has its own ambitions. If they materialise, Greenland will become independent, though hardly with an ambition to become a federal state in the United States,” Rasmussen said.
Debate has also been stirred by the visit of Trump Jr. – who arrived in Greenland Tuesday on what Danish officials said was “not an official American visit” – and was pictured being greeted by crowds wearing hats bearing his father’s MAGA (Make America Great Again) slogan.
While there may be no easy way to gauge what the majority of Greenland’s residents think about Trump’s ideas, Chemnitz suggested a referendum on Greenlandic independence could be held in future, and that closer collaboration with the US on business, defense, raw materials and tourism could come about as a result.
But even that scenario would fall short of Trump’s vision, Chemnitz said.
“So Greenland is not MAGA and Greenland is not going to be MAGA,” she said.