In Donald Trump’s post announcing his pick for ambassador to Denmark on Sunday, the president-elect again suggested he wants the U.S. to buy and control Greenland.
The president-elect said he was choosing Ken Howery, co-founder of PayPal and Trump’s former ambassador to Sweden, for the role.
“As a Co-Founder of PayPal and venture capital fund, Founders Fund, Ken turned American Innovation and Tech leadership into Global success stories, and that experience will be invaluable in representing us abroad,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
“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,” he continued. “Ken will do a wonderful job in representing the interests of the United States.”
He did not elaborate further on the Greenland comment, but Trump has previously expressed interest in purchasing the autonomous Danish territory located between the Arctic and North Atlantic oceans.
In 2019, he characterized a potential purchase of Greenland from Denmark as essentially a “large real estate deal,” arguing that the territory was “hurting Denmark very badly because … they carry it at great loss,” and that “it would be nice” strategically for the U.S. to buy it.
Greenland officials at the time slammed the proposal, saying the island, home to approximately 56,000 people, was not for sale. Danish officials also balked at the idea. Mette Frederiksen, who is still Denmark’s prime minister today, called it “absurd” and said, “Thankfully, the time where you buy and sell other countries and populations is over.”
The U.S. has long viewed Greenland as strategically important. In 1946, the U.S. proposed buying Greenland for the price of $100 million in gold.
Greenland’s leader, Prime Minister Múte Egede, responded promptly to the latest development.
“Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom,” he said in a statement reported by The Guardian.
In a statement provided to HuffPost by Denmark’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, the Danish prime minister’s office said it looked forward to welcoming the new U.S. ambassador and to working with the Trump administration.
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“In a complex security political situation as the one we currently experience, transatlantic cooperation is crucial,” the statement said.
The Danish premier’s office said it had no comment on the Greenland matter other than to reference the Greenland leader’s statement about Greenland “not being for sale, but open for cooperation.”
This was not the only controversial foreign policy idea Trump floated over the weekend. He also threatened to take control of the Panama Canal from the Central American country, drawing a rebuke on Sunday from Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino, who said, “The sovereignty and independence of our country are not negotiable.”