Greenland’s Leader Issues Defiant Response To Trump’s ‘We’re Going To Get It’ Vow | EUROtoday

NUUK, Greenland (AP) — Greenland’s prime minister declared Wednesday that “Greenland is ours” and can’t be taken or purchased in defiance of a message from U.S. President Donald Trump, who stated his administration supported the Arctic island’s proper of self-determination — however added that the United States will purchase the territory “one way or another.”

Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte Bourup Egede stated the island’s residents should not American nor Danish as a result of they’re Greenlandic.

The United States wants to know that, he wrote in a put up in Greenlandic and Danish on Facebook Wednesday.

The way forward for Greenland shall be determined by its folks, he wrote.

His put up got here hours after Trump made a direct enchantment to Greenlanders in a speech to Congress on Tuesday, per week earlier than islanders head to the polls for parliamentary elections.

“We strongly support your right to determine your own future, and if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America,” Trump stated.

“We will keep you safe. We will make you rich. And together we will take Greenland to heights like you have never thought possible before,” he added.

But Trump additionally stated his administration was “working with everybody involved to try to get it,” referring to his needs to accumulate Greenland from Denmark, a longtime U.S. ally.

“We need it really for international world security. And I think we’re going to get it. One way or the other, we’re going to get it,” Trump stated.

Asked about Trump’s feedback, Denmark’s overseas minister stated Wednesday he didn’t suppose Greenlanders wished to separate from Denmark to be able to as an alternative turn into “an integrated part of America.”

Lars Løkke Rasmussen sought to strike an optimistic tone, saying he believed that Trump’s reference to respecting Greenlanders’ proper to self-determination was “the most important part of that speech.”

“I’m very optimistic about what will be a Greenlandic decision about this. They want to loosen their ties to Denmark, we’re working on that, to have a more equal relationship,” the minister stated throughout a visit to Finland.

Løkke added that it was vital that subsequent week’s parliamentary elections are free and honest “without any kind of international intervention.”

Greenlanders will head to the polls Tuesday. Trump’s latest feedback about taking on the island have ignited unprecedented curiosity in full independence from Denmark, which has turn into a key difficulty throughout marketing campaign season.