President-elect Donald Trump’s son, Donald Jr., arrived in Greenland on Tuesday on his father’s “Trump Force One” plane, weeks after his the father reiterated his desire for the United States to take control autonomous territory of Denmark. The visit comes just a day after Trump suggested in a social media post that residents of the vast region were “MAGA.”
“Only here as tourists,” Trump Jr. told reporters as he entered the airport in Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, on Tuesday. “We have been talking about leaving for some time. I was actually supposed to come here last spring to do some of the things I do in my free time, but I got really excited to be here. A wonderful country.”
He was quickly asked about his father, who had expressed his desire to include Greenland into the United States, but he only replied that the future second-term president would “say hello.”
“We talked to him yesterday, so he’s saying hello to everyone in Greenland,” Trump Jr. said.
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“Donald Trump Jr.’s visit is private in nature and Naalakkersuisut – the Government of Greenland – respects this. Therefore, there might be no response to this visit either,” Mininnguaq Kleist, Greenland’s everlasting secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told CBS News ahead of his arrival on Tuesday. “Our country is open to visits and visitors are welcome in our beautiful country.”
Reuters, citing a source conversant in the trip, said Trump Jr. plans to record material for a podcast and that he’ll only be there for sooner or later.
On Monday, President-elect Trump – wrote in a post on social media that he was “hearing that the people of Greenland are ‘MAGA.’ My son Don Jr and various representatives will travel there to visit some of the most wonderful areas and monuments. Greenland is an amazing place and the people will benefit greatly if and when it becomes part of our nation we protect and nurture it from the very cruel outside world.
Greenland has approximately 57,000 inhabitants and is a fully autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. It has reserves of oil, natural gas and minerals, but its economy is based on subsidies from Denmark and fishing.
President-elect Trump expressed interest in buying Greenland during his first term, although the idea came quickly rejected by the Danish authorities.
Two weeks ago, Trump said on social media that “for the sake of national security and freedom around the world, the United States of America believes that possession and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.”
The Greenland government twice rejected Trump’s claims of interest in the territory, and Prime Minister Mute Egede speaking just before Christmas that “Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and we will never be for sale.”
Last week, Egede gave a New Year’s speech in which he urged Greenland to remove the “shackles of colonialism” and gain full independence from Denmark.
“It is high time for us to take a step ourselves and shape our future, also in terms of who we will work closely with and who our trading partners will be,” Egede said.
Reuters reported that Greenlandic member of the Danish Parliament, Aaja Chemnitz, said Trump’s interest should be rejected.
“I don’t want to be a pawn in Trump’s fervent dreams of expanding his empire into our country,” Chemnitz said.
