Trump says Denmark will ‘come along’ on Greenland sale

President Trump said Denmark will “come along” on the potential sale of Greenland and emphasized the U.S. and others need the Arctic island to fortify international security in the region. 

“Greenland is a wonderful place. We need fair, international security, and I am sure that Denmark will come along. I think — it’s costing them a lot of money to maintain it, to keep it,” Trump told reporters Monday night at the Oval Office while signing a number of executive orders. 

Trump has shown a desire to have Greenland, an autonomous territory controlled by Denmark, become a part of the U.S. ever since he won the 2024 presidential election, saying owning the Arctic island with a population of more than 56,000 “is an absolute necessity.” 

The president has also not ruled out the idea of using the military to achieve it. 

“The people of Greenland are not happy with Denmark, you know. I think they are happy with us. We had representatives, my son and representatives went up there two weeks ago and they like us so we will see what happens, but Greenland is necessary, not for us, it’s necessary for international security,” Trump said Monday, referencing his son Donald Trump Jr.’s trip to the territory two weeks ago. 

“You have Russian boats all over the place, you have China boats all over the place, warships, and they can’t maintain it,” he added.

Denmark’s foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, said no nation can just help itself to another nation. 

“Of course, we can’t have a world order where countries, if they’re big enough, no matter what they’re called, can just help themselves to what they want,” Løkke Rasmussen told reporters Tuesday, according to Agence France-Presse. 

Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede has said previously Greenland is not for sale but is open to business dealings with the U.S. 

“We don’t want to be Danes,” Egede told Fox News last week. “We don’t even want to be Americans. We want to be Greenlanders.”

“We will always be a part of NATO. We will always be a strong partner for the U.S.,” he added. “We are close neighbors. We have been incorporated in the last 80 years. And I think the future has a lot to offer, to cooperate with.”

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told Trump during a call last week that Greenland’s independence is on the island itself to decide. 

A Suffolk University/USA Today survey from last week found that more than half of U.S. voters, 53 percent, are not supportive of the U.S. taking over Greenland.