Greenlanders are skeptical of President-elect Donald Trump’s expected attempt to acquire the world’s largest island - but some are open to closer ties with the U.S.
Bilo Chemnitz, who drives a snowmobile at a ski slope in the Greenland capital of Nuuk, told The Washington Post: “I don’t trust the guy.”
“I want Greenland to stay like it is,” he added.
“I don’t like the way he talks about Greenland,” resident Ida Abelsen told the paper after mass at Nuuk Cathedral.
Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, has free healthcare, free education, and subsidized low-income housing. Half of the state’s budget comes from Denmark, about $500 million each year.
But that’s what the U.S. handed the Philippines in military funds alone last year, meaning that it could possibly outbid Denmark for influence in the Arctic.
China, Russia, and the U.S. are all trying to gain the upper hand as they seek to gain influence over new commercial shipping and military sea routes as the area warms up.
The U.S. already has a military base on Greenland, Pituffik Space Base, which is tasked with running a worldwide network of warning sensors to detect incoming missiles. The island also has the potential to provide rare-earth minerals required for electric car batteries.
Conservative activist Charlie Kirk went to Greenland alongside Donald Trump Jr. last week.
He said on his podcast that Trump’s pitch to acquire Greenland “makes America dream again, that we’re not just this sad, low-testosterone, beta male slouching in our chair, allowing the world to run over us.”
“It is the resurrection of masculine American energy,” he added. “It is the return of Manifest Destiny.”
Nature tour guide Daniel Johnson told the paper that Trump Jr’s five-hour visit to Greenland was “the most bizarre day.”
“They gave hats to random people off the street, who agreed to wear the hats if they wanted some free food and free drinks. … It was all just for show,” Johnsen added.
Kuno Fencker, a member of Greenland’s parliament and its foreign affairs committee, told The Post, “This is a great opportunity for Greenland.”
“We know Donald Trump. He’s a politician. He’s a businessman. You shouldn’t take him literally. But you should take him seriously,” he added.
Danish officials have made clear that the Greenlanders make their own decisions regarding their future, with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen saying, “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders.”
Trump’s talk of acquiring the island has raised the profile of Greenland, but it has also prompted anxieties.
Greenland University sociologist Paul Pedersen told The Post, “My mom was asking me, seriously, if I thought Trump was going to declare war against Greenland.”
Fencker told the paper that Trump’s looseness with his words has prompted some confusion as to whether he’s trying to charm or threaten Greenland.
But he added that the U.S. armed forces would never attack Greenland, arguing, “That we are even discussing this is distracting.”
However, he noted that Trump is “already” using economic and political pressure against Denmark to loosen its grip on the territory.
Nuuk Trump supporter Jorgen Boassen told the paper that the more the Danish media “hated Trump … the more I liked him.”
“My friends were all laughing at me,” he added.
Boassen went on to say that what a future relationship with the U.S. would look like depends on “how far Trump wants to take it.” But he said he assumed that Greenland would have to declare its independence from Denmark before it can make its “own deal.” He doubted that Greenland would join the U.S. as a state but that they could “maybe” become “close partners.”
Pedersen meanwhile argued that Trump’s attempts to gain control of the territory are leading to a resurgence of grievances with Denmark over its colonial history.
“He is already dividing people here,” Pedersen told The Post.
Last week, Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede said “It is now time to take the next step for our country … to remove the obstacles to cooperation — which we can describe as the shackles of the colonial era — and move on.”
He indicated that he might attempt to conduct an independent referendum. On Monday, speaking at a press conference in Copenhagen, Egede said he wanted a deeper partnership with the U.S. on defense and mining exploration, adding that he’s open to speaking to the next Trump administration.
“It is … Greenland that will decide what agreement we should come to,” he said.
