Greenland PM To Donald Trump: ‘We Are Not For Sale’

On Sunday afternoon, Donald Trump suggested that the U.S. would somehow gain ownership of Greenland, a self-ruling territory of Denmark. But the Prime Minister of Greenland promptly responded: “We are not for sale.” In announcing his pick for Ambassador to Denmark, Trump declared, “For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the world, the United States of America feels that ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.” But Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede clapped back saying “Greenland is ours,” Egede wrote. “We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom.”

Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede said the island nation is “not for sale and will never be for sale,” after President-elect Donald Trump suggested the U.S. should take it over. https://t.co/U4nNdYozPP

— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 23, 2024

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This isn’t the first time Trump has suggested the U.S. somehow purchase the island. In 2019, during Trump’s first term, he said he was considering buying Greenland for strategic reasons. Greenland’s leadership made it clear the island was not for sale then, too.

Over the weekend, Trump also seemed to suggest the U.S. should take over the Panama Canal, which is owned and operated by the Panama government-owned Panama Canal Authority.

Panama President José Raúl Mulino responded that “every square meter” of the canal “belongs to Panama and will continue belonging to Panama.”

While the Panama Canal was built by the U.S. in the early 20th century, it was returned via a treaty to Panama by former President Jimmy Carter in 1977.

“#Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale,” the territory’s Prime Minister Múte Egede said in response to @realDonaldTrump’s statement that “ownership and #control of Greenland is an absolute necessity” for the U.S. pic.twitter.com/K1Y7cGEIKA

— TVP World (@TVPWorld_com) December 23, 2024