The never-ending to-do list of the US President-elect has the latest addition. Now, Trump wants Greenland for the United States. During his first term, Trump made unsuccessful calls to buy Greenland from Denmark for the US. On Sunday, while announcing his pick for the ambassadorship to Denmark, Trump wrote, “For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.”
Trump’s desire to have Greenland comes after he suggested over the weekend that the US could retake control of the Panama Canal if the rising shipping costs, which are charged for using the waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, are not eased. Earlier, he also suggested that Canada should become the 51st US state and referred to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the “governor” of the “Great State of Canada.”
What is Greenland?
Greenland, located between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans, is the world’s largest island, It is substantially i.e. 80 per cent covered by an ice sheet and serves as a home to a large US military base.
It gained home rule from Denmark in 1979 and its head of government, Múte Bourup Egede, suggested that Trump’s latest calls for US control would be as meaningless as those made in his first term.
Greenland is not for sale: Denmark
“Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale,” he said in a statement. “We must not lose our years-long fight for freedom.” Trump cancelled a 2019 visit to Denmark after his offer to buy Greenland was rejected by Copenhagen, and ultimately came to nothing.
The Greenland and Panama flareups followed Trump’s recently posting that “Canadians want Canada to become the 51st State” and offering an image of himself superimposed on a mountaintop surveying surrounding territory next to a Canadian flag.
(With agency inputs)
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