Once again, US President Donald Trump says he is confident his country will gain control of Greenland, reaffirming his claim that the 57,000 residents of the autonomous Danish territory would agree to a possible acquisition.
His comments came during a brief question-and-answer period with reporters aboard Air Force One Saturday night while flying to Miami from Las Vegas.
“I think we will get Greenland, because we really It has to do with the freedom of the world. It has nothing to do with America, other than we are the ones who can provide freedom,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One this weekend, according to the Financial Times.
US President Donald Trump speaks to the press, along with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt (right), aboard Air Force One after departing Las Vegas for Miami on January 25, 2025.
Mandel Ngan / AFP via Getty Images
It's a wish Trump has reiterated since 2016, even though the leaders of Greenland and other Nordic countries insist it is not for sale.
On Monday, France24 reported that Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen had met with her regional counterparts over the weekend to discuss defense and security, and although she did not mention Greenland by name, she said that all “I shared the seriousness of the situation.”
“The Nordic countries have always stood together,” Frederiksen wrote on social media Sunday night, sharing a photo of herself hosting a dinner at her home with the leaders of Finland, Norway and Sweden.
“And in the face of the new and more unpredictable reality that is coming, close and good alliances and friendships are increasingly important.”
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Five days before Trump's inauguration on January 20, Frederiksen spoke by phone with the president, a call that was described as “controversial” and “aggressive” by the New York Times, which spoke to unnamed European officials who were briefed on the 45-minute phone call.
Sources told the outlet that Frederiksen “made several suggestions for greater cooperation on military and economic issues, but insisted that Greenland, which already hosts a major US base, It was not for sale” and that it was up to Greenland to determine its own destiny.
And just last week, Danish politician Anders Vistisen delivered a strong public message to Trump while speaking in the European Parliament, ultimately getting him in trouble for telling the president to “fuck off.”
“Dear President Trump, listen very carefully,” Vistisen said on January 21. “Greenland has been part of the Danish kingdom for 800 years. It is an integrated part of our country. “It is not for sale.”
“Let me put it in words you can understand,” he continued. “Mr. Trump, fuck you!”
The same day, Greenland Prime Minister Mute Edege insisted that Greenlanders “don't want to be Americans.”
“We are Greenlanders. We don't want to be Americans. We don't want to be Danish either. The future of Greenland will be decided by Greenland. “Our country and our people will decide what happens to Greenland.”
Under a 2009 agreement with Denmark, Greenland can only declare independence after a successful referendum, which Egede has suggested could be held in conjunction with the island's upcoming parliamentary elections in April.
Earlier this month, Trump said he would not rule out using force or economic pressure to make Greenland part of the United States. Trump said that it was a matter of national security for the United States, a country that already has the only military base in the territory, in the northern part of the island.
A former Danish ambassador to the United States, Friis Arne Petersen, told the French newspaper Le Figaro that “Europe, Greenland and the rest of the world Donald Trump's statements must be taken very seriously.because they were carefully prepared.”
“The terms used and their context left no room for interpretation,” Petersen said, adding that he believes Trump's interest in purchasing Greenland during his first presidency was more commercial, but his recent interest shows a shift toward security concerns.
On Saturday's flight, Trump also made some of his most extensive comments about his recent suggestions that Canada could become part of the US.
“I love Canada,” he said. “I have so many friends in Canada. And they like us and they like me. But Canada has been taking advantage of the United States for years and we are not going to let that happen.”
He suggested that the United States is losing hundreds of millions annually to Canada in trade deficits while Canada does “almost 90 percent of its business with the United States.”
“I don't want to spend hundreds of millions of dollars supporting the country unless that country is a state. And, if it is a state, the people of Canada will pay a much lower tax.”
He said Canadians would also “not have military problems, they would be much safer in every way and I think that's a great thing for Canada.”
“Honestly, I see it as a country that should be a state,” he said. “Then they'll get much better treatment, much better care, much lower taxes and they'll be much safer.”
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—With files from Katie Scott of Global News and The Associated Press
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