"Absolutely necessary"

Trump wants to incorporate the world’s largest island

The then US president wanted to buy the Danish island back in 2019. At the time, Trump received a brusque rejection.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/JOHN SONNTAG/NASA/AFP, AFP)

US President-elect Donald Trump wants to incorporate Greenland into the USA. "In the interest of national security and freedom in the world, the United States believes that ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity," Trump wrote on the online platform Truth Social, which he co-founded.

In the post, Trump also named his candidate for the post of US ambassador to Denmark: Ken Howery, a co-founder of the payment service provider PayPal, who was ambassador to Sweden during Trump's first term in office. The appointment requires the approval of the US Senate.

Trump already wanted to buy Greenland beforehand
Trump had already proposed buying Greenland during his first term of office. The answer from Denmark at the time was clear: no, thank you.

Greenland's foreign affairs commissioner Vivian Motzfeldt rejected Trump's new proposal on Danish broadcaster TV2 as "nonsensical". Head of government Múte B. Egede emphasized that Greenland was not for sale. However, he said, we must be open to economic cooperation. "Because all cooperation and trade cannot go through Denmark," he said in a statement to TV2.

Greenlanders "open for business"
Two Greenlandic MPs in the Danish parliament were more open-minded. They are "open for business", said Aaja Chemnitz. Her party, Inuit Ataqatigiit, would like to see greater American involvement in Greenland, particularly in the areas of education and economic development.

Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam from the Siumut party said she was open to dialog. Trump shows understanding for the strategic and global importance of Greenland, she told broadcaster DR. "But it is important to emphasize that Greenland is not a commodity or geostrategic trophy."

Interesting because of suspected mineral resources
The huge country of Greenland, with a population of around 56,000, is largely autonomous. Due to its location in the Arctic, its proximity to Russia, its suspected mineral resources and an important US military base, the island is not only strategically important for the USA. Greenland is about six times the size of Germany.

Interest in the Panama Canal too
At an event in the state of Arizona on Sunday, Trump also threatened to reclaim control of the Panama Canal. The canal connects the Atlantic with the Pacific and is one of the most important trade routes in the world.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the USA carried out the construction of the major project - it also controlled the area for decades afterwards. Control was then gradually handed over to Panama.