Donald Trump is trying to strike a deal to acquire Greenland.
He got some unexpected news about the island.
And Greenland’s Prime Minister dropped one bombshell that made Donald Trump take notice.
Greenland’s Prime Minister offers hint about island’s future on Fox News
President Donald Trump stunned the political establishment in Washington, D.C. when he declared that it was an “absolute necessity” for the United States to own Greenland.
Greenland – the world’s largest island – is a self-governing territory of Denmark.
Danish and Greenland politicians have insisted the island isn’t for sale despite Trump’s overtures.
Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede was asked about Trump’s interest in the island during an appearance on Fox News Channel’s Special Report.
“We don’t want to be Danes,” Egede said. “We don’t even want to be Americans. We want to be Greenlanders.”
Egede supports an effort to hold a referendum to vote on independence from Denmark this year.
The Prime Minister stressed his island has no interest in becoming a part of the United States but left the door open for wide-ranging cooperation.
“We will always be a part of NATO. We will always be a strong partner for the U.S.,” Egede said. “We are close neighbors. We have been incorporated in the last 80 years.”
Greenland wants the United States to maintain a military presence
Egede stressed that cooperation with the United States was vital to this island’s future.
“And I think the future has a lot to offer, to cooperate with,” Egede explained. “But we want to also be clear, we don’t want to be Americans. We don’t want to be a part of the U.S., but we want strong cooperation together with the U.S.”
Greenland has a population of about 56,000 people and Denmark currently provides the island’s defense.
Egede wanted the United States to maintain its military base, Pituffik Space Base, on the north of the island.
Pituffik is a Space Force base used for space sensors and missile defense of North America.
“It’s a really important military base, especially for all of us in the North American continent, and especially for your national security, and your national security is our security,” Egede said.
“We are open to discuss . . . how to defend our country, your country, all the Arctic, all the North American countries, and all the Western Alliances,” Egede added.
There has been some speculation that if Trump didn’t buy Greenland it could enter into a Compact of Free Association (COFA) with the United States.
The small Pacific island nations of Micronesia, Palau, and the Marshall Islands have a COFA with the United States.
A COFA would allow the United States to have exclusive military access to Greenland and the ability to keep other countries out.
Trump warned of the Chinese and Russian influence in the Arctic on his first day in office.
“Greenland is a wonderful place. We need it for international security,” Trump said. “And I’m sure that Denmark will come along — it’s costing them a lot of money to maintain it, to keep it.”
“Greenland is necessary not for us, it’s necessary for international security,” Trump added. “You have Russian boats all over the place, you have China’s boats all over the place — warships — and they [Denmark] can’t maintain it.”
It appears that there is a middle ground for Donald Trump to strike a deal with Greenland.
