Trump Jr. to Visit Greenland Amid Independence Push
(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump Jr. will arrive in Greenland on Tuesday in a surprise visit to the Arctic territory, just weeks after his father, US President-elect Donald Trump, rekindled the idea of buying the island from Denmark.
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A delegation landed in the capital Nuuk on Monday, and Trump Jr. himself will follow on Tuesday, the head of Greenland’s Department of Foreign Affairs, Mininnguaq Kleist, told Bloomberg News.
The trip comes as relations between Washington and Nuuk have been thrust into focus after Donald Trump last month hinted he still wants to buy Greenland, saying that US ownership and control of the island is an “absolute necessity” for national security.
Greenland, located strategically between the Arctic and the North Atlantic, is becoming increasingly important geopolitically for the US. The self-ruling territory of Denmark is crucial to American national defense, being home to a US base that’s used to detect missile threats and monitoring space.
The island’s vast stores of critical minerals and fossil fuels, which are becoming more accessible as ice is melting, have also drawn interest from global powers.
The visit is “private” and Trump Jr. has scheduled no official meetings, Kleist said. Still, it’s the coldest and darkest time of year in Greenland, with Nuuk getting fewer than five hours of daylight.
Trump Jr., who does not have an official role within his father’s incoming administration, during his evening show on Rumble on Monday confirmed he would be going on a “personal day trip” to Greenland alongside pro-Trump activist Charlie Kirk. “No, I am not buying Greenland,” he said.
Still, his father seized on the trip to again needle Greenland over his longtime aspirations to bring the territory under US control.
“Greenland is an incredible place, and the people will benefit tremendously if, and when, it becomes part of our Nation,” the president-elect wrote in a social media post. “We will protect it, and cherish it, from a very vicious outside World.”
Trump Jr.’s surprise trip to Nuuk coincides with Greenland Premier Múte B. Egede postponing a planned meeting with Denmark’s King Frederik X on Wednesday in Copenhagen. Kleist said the timing of the canceled meeting with the king and Trump Jr.’s visit is “pure coincidence.” Egede last month said the island is “not for sale and will never be for sale.”
Egede has long pushed for Greenland to gain independence, and stepped up his rhetoric during his New Year speech. In the remarks, he expressed a need for Greenland to collaborate with neighboring states, saying “our cooperation with other countries, and our trade relations, cannot only continue to happen via Denmark.”
Greenland’s government last year published a foreign, security and defense policy blueprint that expressed a desire to forge closer links with North America. It comes after Greenlandic lawmakers in 2023 unveiled a draft constitution for an independent nation — though full independence may still be some time away for the island of 57,000 people.
Elon Musk, a close adviser to Trump, on Monday also joined the conversation, saying in a post on X that “the people of Greenland should decide their future and I think they want to be part of America!”
(Updates to include background from fourth paragraph, Trump Jr. comment from seventh.)
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