Trump Jr. visits Greenland and Danish king changes royal coat of arms amid feud over Arctic territory

Shortly after his arrival, Trump Jr. was filmed on a phone call with his father in a restaurant.

As one of Trump Jr.’s team held up the phone, the president-elect could be heard saying that Greenland was a “very special place.”

“It needs security for itself, and it also needs security very much for the world,” he said. “We need security, and our country needs it and the whole world needs it,” he added, before the crowd start applauding.

Trump Jr. replied that his team was “learning a lot” and that Greenland was “incredibly beautiful.” He added that they had received a “spectacular” welcome.

The Danish Foreign Affairs Ministry told NBC News that it had “noted” the visit but did not comment further because it was “not an official American visit.”

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Tuesday that the future of Greenland would be decided by Greenland, calling the United States Denmark’s most important ally.

Her response echoed the unequivocal stance of Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede, who told Trump in December that “Greenland is not for sale.”

Yet the feud could add to calls for Greenland’s independence from Denmark, with proponents hoping to “exploit the Trump interest to elevate their own political goal,” rather than replace Danish authority with the Americans, Aagaard said.

Egede has called on the territory to “break free” from the “shackles of the colonial era,” adding that it would soon adopt a new self-government act to chart its own future away from Denmark.

“We must not lose our long struggle for freedom,” he said.

But in Denmark, most politicians saw Trump Jr’s visit as “quite annoying,” Aagaard said, adding that “there is a clear Danish interest in maintaining Greenland as part of the Commonwealth, though the Danes are aware that Denmark can never defend Greenland alone.”