Donald Trump has claimed that the United States need the island “for economic security. (Image: Getty)
has reiterated his calls for the to be able to purchase , despite being told that it is not for sale.
The president-elect, who has made similar statements regarding Panama’s refused to rule out deploying the military to take control.
made which were labelled as an “absurd distraction” by Danish Prime Minister .
But speaking in a press conference at Mar-a-Lago today, Mr Trump was adamant that the needed the island and canal “for economic security”.
He said: “We need Greenland for national security purposes. People really don’t even know if Denmark has any legal right to it, but if they do they should give it up because we need it for national security.”
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Trump used his press conference to make a series of claims about Greenland, Panama and Canada (Image: Getty)
is a founding member of with no precedent existing for a fellow member state to threaten military action against another member, let alone commit to deploying troops.
was a Danish colony until 1979 when it became self-ruled with its own parliament. still maintains control over its foreign and defense policy.
attempts to purchase the island are not the first by the . In 1867 President Andrew Johnson also considered buying the island as the country purchased Alaska.
The Truman administration also offered $100 million to purchase the island in the aftermath of World War Two according to Danish documents.
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Climate change is predicted to open up Arctic areas for exploration for rare natural resources (Image: Getty)
The comments come as son, Jr has landed in on what he says is “a private visit”.
Despite this, the trip has fueled speculation that the visit could be an official act although Trump Jr stressed that he had no plans to meet any Danish representatives.
In an effort to defuse a potential diplomatic conflict, Frederiksen stressed that she was keen to work with Washington in the Arctic, which is believed to possess an abundance of natural resources.
Climate change and the melting of ice caps is believed to be opening up access to previously unexplored areas in and around waters which could produce valuable rare-earth metals as global stocks dwindle.