Jan. 7 (UPI) — President-elect Donald Trump‘s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., was expected to arrive in Greenland on Tuesday for a brief private visit to the autonomous Danish territory two weeks after his father said he wanted to buy the Arctic island for the sake of U.S. national security.
Trump Jr. said he was taking the” long, day trip” in a personal capacity as a tourist to talk with people there — but stressed no meetings with government officials were on his itinerary.
However, Trump posted on social media on Monday that his son would be accompanied [by “various representatives” to see some of the great terrain and sights the resource-rich island has to offer, saying that the territory and its population “will benefit tremendously if and when it becomes, part of our nation.”
“We will protect it, and cherish it, from a very vicious outside world,” he added. “Make Greenland great again!”
Trump Jr. denied he was trying to buy Greenland, insisting he was going there because of the affection the place held for him.
Denmark’s foreign ministry declined to comment on what it said was a private visit but last month when Trump resurrected his Greenland ambitions, which he also floated during his first term, Greenland Prime Minister Mute Bourup Egede categorically ruled out any transfer of sovereignty.
“We are not for sale and we will not be for sale. Greenland belongs to the people of Greenland,” said Egede.
King Frederik went further, stressing Denmark was unified across all its territories and that Denmark and Greenland “belonged together.”
However, splits emerged after Egede said the island should pursue independence to escape “the shackles of colonialism,” something that could happen if a majority of Greenland’s 57,000 people vote for it in a referendum under a 2009 agreement signed by Denmark and Greenland.
Serving and former U.S. national security officials told Politico that the Arctic Zone location of the world’s largest island, between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, was strategically important for the United States, which has a major space facility there, but cautioned that talk of buying the territory when it isn’t for sale would likely damage ties with both Copenhagen and Nuuk.
“Pissing everybody off by saying we’re just going to buy them outright really bruises our bilateral relationship with the Danes and more importantly ruins any kind of way for us to work this out with Greenlanders,” said former senior Pentagon official Jim Townsend.
