Greenlandic Prime Minister Mute Bourup Egede said he was open to talks (Image: Getty )
said his country is “ready to talk” with Donald Trump after the incoming US President said controlling the vast territory was “an absolute necessity” for the US.
PM Múte Egede was speaking alongside Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in Copenhagen. Denmark currently has authority over Greenland, which is run as an autonomous territory.
more than eight times the size of the United Kingdom, and holds a vital strategic position around the Arctic circle.
As climate change warms the planet major powers like the US, and China are attempting to claim more and more of the Arctic and the vast mineral wealth it contains.
The US also views Greenland as vital for military defence against ‘s and Washington already has a presence at the Pituffik Space Base, part of its early warning system against ballistic missiles.
In fact, Washington DC and Moscow are both around the same distance from Greenland, around 2,000 miles, making the country one of the shortest routes between the two capitals.
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Donald Trump has said he wants to take over control of Greenland (Image: Getty )
‘s overtures about taking over Greenland, and his failure to rule out an invasion, have worried the EU, and especially Danish authorities which are a close US ally and founder member of NATO.
In the Danish capital, Mr Egede said: “We are ready to talk. Cooperation is built on dialogue and finding solutions together.
“We have a desire for independence, a desire to be the master of our own house. This is something everyone should respect. Greenland is for the Greenlandic people.
“We do not want to be Danish, we do not want to be American. We want to be Greenlandic.”
sparked the furore after taking to his social media outlet, Truth Social, where he posted: “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.”
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Greenland has a small population but a huge land area of natural resources (Image: Getty )
Mr Egede spoke to journalists after a biannual assembly of Denmark and two territories of its kingdom, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
The meeting had been previously scheduled and wasn’t called in response to Mr Trump’s eldest son, Jr, making a visit to Greenland on Tuesday.
The 47-year-old landed in a plane emblazoned with the word TRUMP and handed out Make America Great Again caps to locals before posing for photographs.
The Danish public broadcaster, DR, reported the claims that homeless and socially disadvantaged people where asked to appear in a video wearing the MAGA hats after being offered a free meal in a nice restaurant.
The report quoted a local resident, Tom Amtof, who claimed to have recognised some of those in a video broadcast by Trump’s team. He alleged: “They are being bribed, and it is deeply distasteful.”
Greenland has a population of just 57,000, but it’s a vast territory possesses natural resources that include oil, gas, and rare earth elements, which are expected to become more accessible as ice melts because of climate change.