Unlock the Watch House White newsletter for free
Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world
Greenland does not want to be American or Danish, but independent, according to the Arctic island’s prime minister at the end of a tumultuous week after US President-elect Donald Trump’s refusal to rule out the possibility of force taking control of the territory .
Múte Egede said the “status quo is not an option” as he laid out the desire of the large and geopolitically crucial island of 57,000 to have “its own voice” by gaining independence from Denmark and rejecting Trump’s attempts to buy Greenland.
“We don’t want to be Danes, we don’t want to be Americans, we want to be Greenlanders,” he said at a press conference.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said at the same meeting that Greenland’s desire for independence was “legitimate and understandable”, while calling US interest in the autonomous territory “positive”.
This is a developing story