The victory of Donald Trump as the new elected president of the United States has been characterized by his controversial proposals. One of them is to take control of Greenland, something he had already hinted at during his first term.
The idea of the United States taking over Greenland has persisted in him, so last Sunday he reiterated it by appointing Ken Howery as ambassador to Denmark. For him, it is a matter of "national security."
“In terms of National Security and Freedom worldwide, the United States of America feel that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity,” were Trump's words in the statement announcing Howery's appointment.
Currently, and for the past 70 years, Greenland has been part of Denmark. How does Trump intend for the United States to take control of this area? He hasn't said yet, but it is clear that he seems to be focused on that.
The authorities of Greenland have not reacted. Reuters reported that Greenland's Prime Minister, Mute Egede, rejected what Donald Trump had said in a statement, stating that "Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom."
Trump and his old intentions to buy Greenland or exchange it for Puerto Rico
NBC News recalled that during a meeting with journalists in 2019, Trump expressed his willingness to buy Greenland, stating that it is "strategically interesting."
"First, we have to find out if they have any interest or not... They are losing a tremendous amount of money, so we will see what happens."
Univisión recalled that in that year, Trump floated the idea of trading the territory of Greenland for Puerto Rico.
The aforementioned media outlet reported that Miles Taylor, former chief of staff to Trump at the Department of Homeland Security, told MSNBC that "he (Trump) said he wanted to see if he could sell Puerto Rico, if he could exchange it for Greenland, since according to his words, Puerto Rico was dirty and the people were poor."
The former official expressed that she did not take Trump's comments about Puerto Rico as a joke. "These are Americans. One does not speak in this way about other Americans, and the fact that the president would want to take a U.S. territory and exchange it for a foreign country is outrageous."
However, Peter Brown, special representative of the White House for the disaster recovery of Puerto Rico, said at that time that he had “never heard the president say anything like that.”