Donald Trump Junior, the oldest son of the incoming US president, is visiting Greenland just weeks after his father repeated wishes that Greenland join the USA.
Donald Trump Junior, the oldest son of the incoming US president, is visiting Greenland just weeks after his father repeated wishes that Greenland join the USA.
“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,” President-elect Trump wrote on social media last month.
Donald Trump (senior) made similar overtures during his first term in office. Greenland’s foreign ministry responded at the time that “we’re open for business, not for sale” and the US government did not pursue it.
But the visit of his son to the island this week, albeit reportedly in a personal capacity, has raised questions over whether, this time, the president might be serious.
Greenland is a self-governing territory of Denmark. In his new year’s address, the King of Denmark repeated that “we belong together”.
King Frederik X also issued a new “contemporary royal coat of arms that both reflects the Commonwealth [of Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands] and takes into account history and heraldic tradition.”
Credit: Kongehuset
Greenland’s polar bear features more prominently in the new design.
At odds with the overtures from both Copenhagen and from Mar-a-Lago, Greenland’s Prime Minister wants to push for independence.
“It is about time that we ourselves take a step and shape our future”, Múte Egede said last week.
Greenland is due to hold elections this spring and the prime minister hinted that if his pro-independence party is returned to power, a referendum on removing the “shackles of colonialism” could be on the cards.
Greenland’s tiny population of around 57,000 people mainly live along the southern coast.
The world’s largest ice sheet after Antarctica covers most of the interior of the island. But climate change is melting the ice at a rate of 245 billion tonnes per year, according to NASA.
The melting ice has opened new areas to possible mining. Greenland is facing a difficult balance between exploiting its economic potential and managing the fragile environment.
Those resources, including zinc, gold and diamonds may be attractive to Donald Trump. But so too is Greenland’s strategic mid-Atlantic location.
The US already has a space force base on Greenland’s north west coast. The Arctic region is militarily important for Russia and that too could be on Trump’s mind.
Donald Trump Junior will arrive at Greenland’s brand new Nuuk International Airport.
It is the first of three airports under construction financed by loans from the Danish government and designed to open up the country to tourism, industry and new investment from both the US and Europe.
In a statement, the government of Greenland said Donald Trump Junior’s visit to Greenland will take place as a private capacity.
“Since the visit is not official, the Government of Greenland or their representatives will not meet with Donald Trump Jr.
Greenland is open and those who wish to visit us are welcome.”