Greenland's Pm Stands Firm On Independence: ‘we Want To Be Greenlanders’

Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede insisted Thursday that the island wants close ties to the U.S. and Denmark. But only to a point.

“The Greenlandic people don't want to be Danes. The Greenlandic people don't want to be Americans,” Egede said in a Fox News interview.

The prime minister’s comments risk frustrating President-elect Donald Trump, who has expressed interest in taking control of the strategically located and resource-rich island.

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has supported Egede's assertion that "Greenland is not for sale," reiterating that message directly to Trump in a phone call Wednesday.

Egede, in an interview with Bret Baier, welcomed a strong partnership with both the EU and U.S. and expressed openness for increased European and American investment in the island’s mining sector, echoing a Washington Post opinion penned by the island’s natural resources minister Naaja H. Nathanielsen on Thursday.

Egede said Greenlanders would choose independence if given the chance to vote in a referendum — and the decision should be left in their hands.

“The future of Greenland will be decided by the Greenlandic people,” he said.

If the Danish territory achieved independence, he said, Greenland would want to remain part of NATO as a member state and maintain a strong security and defense partnership with both the U.S. and EU.

“It’s important to see that if Greenland takes those steps we'll always be a part of the Western alliance and a strong partner for [the] U.S.,” he said, “because your security is our security."