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'Not a commodity': Greenlandic, Danish politicians in scathing response to Trump purchase rumour

Ritzau/The Local
Ritzau/The Local - [email protected]
'Not a commodity': Greenlandic, Danish politicians in scathing response to Trump purchase rumour
Aaja Chemnitz Larsen. File photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

A Greenlandic representative and opposition MPs in the Danish parliament have responded to reports US president Donald Trump is considering offering to buy the autonomous territory—and they are not keen on the idea.

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The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Trump has raised with advisors the prospect of trying to purchase Greenland, an icy land mass of 2.18 million square kilometres which is an autonomous part of Denmark.

Though unconfirmed by Trump or the White House, the story has spread across international news outlets and become a talking point on social media.

Aaja Chemnitz Larsen, who is one of the two politicians elected from Greenland constituencies to sit in the Danish parliament, said that, should the reports be confirmed, she would firmly oppose any approach from Trump.

Greenland has had an autonomous government since 2009 as part of the Kingdom of Denmark.

“I say ‘no thanks’ to the Americans buying Greenland from Denmark. I’d prefer to strengthen relations between Greenland and Denmark,” Larsen said.

“It is also important to say that Greenland is not a commodity which can just be sold. Denmark couldn’t just go ahead and do that,” she added.

Larsen represents the Inuit Ataqatigiit party, a left wing group which supports economic and political independence for Greenland.

She also said she sees Greenland as having more in common with Denmark than with the United States.

“That is based on values within Greenlandic society and which are built on Nordic social welfare principles, like free education and the being able to afford to see a doctor without worrying whether you can afford it,” she said.

“I’d be concerned about the type of society we’d have if Greenland becomes American rather than Danish,” she added.

Although Denmark is yet to officially comment on the report, opposition politicians have, like Larsen, spoken out to dismiss the idea.

“It must be an April Fool’s Day joke... but totally out of season!”, former prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen tweeted in English (with only minor spelling errors).

Søren Espersen, foreign policy and Greenland spokesperson with the populist Danish People’s Party, who is often supportive of Trump, went as far as to question the US president’s sanity.

“If it’s true that he’s working on these ideas, that’s conclusive evidence he’s gone crazy. I have to tell it like it is: the thought of Denmark selling 50,000 of its citizens to the USA is completely crazy,” Espersen told Ritzau.

The matter should not be up for discussion during Trump's state visit to Denmark next month, he added.

"This is not something which should be discussed. It's a dead duck and makes me very concerned about (Trump's) mental condition," he said.

READ ALSO: Does Donald Trump really want to buy Greenland from Denmark?

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