Lars Joergen Kleist, wearing a Make America Great Again hat, queues to vote at the polling station in Nuuk on March 11, 2025, as Greenland, the autonomous Danish territory, holds legislative elections.
Odd Andersen | Afp | Getty Images
The outgoing prime minister of Greenland blasted talk Thursday by President Donald Trump that the potential annexation of the massive Arctic island by the United States would happen.
“The U.S. president has once again aired the thought of annexing us,” Prime Minister Mute Egede wrote in a Facebook post.
“Don’t keep treating us with disrespect. Enough is enough,” Egede wrote.
The prime minister wrote that he plans to convene a meeting of the chairmen of all Greenland’s political parties “as soon as possible” to address Trump’s comments.
“Because this time we need to tighten our rejection of Trump,” Egede wrote.
Greenland’s outgoing Prime Minister and head of the left green party Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) Mute Bourup Egede (R) is seen at a polling station in Nuuk, Greenland, during parliamentary elections on March 11, 2025.
Mads Claus Rasmussen | AFP | Getty Images
The Facebook post came hours after Trump yet again discussed the idea of the U.S. taking over Greenland, which is currently a territory of Denmark.
A reporter asked Trump, “What is your vision for the potential annexation of Greenland.”
“I think it’ll happen,” Trump replied during a meeting in the White House with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
Trump said the U.S. needs the island “for international security.”
The president then turned to Rutte and said “we’ll be talking to you” about the issue.
“It’s really an appropriate question,” the president added.
Rutte quickly said, “When it comes to Greneland, yes or no joining the U.S., I would leave that outside, for me, this discussion, because I don’t want to direct NATO in that.”
Denmark, like the United States was a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a major international alliance created in 1949 on the heels of World War II.
Denmark has controlled Greenland, the world’s largest island, since the 14th century.
However, Greenland has been self-governing since 1979.
On Tuesday, the center-right, pro-business Demokraaitit party won a surprise parliamentary election victory in Greenland, garnering 30% of the vote.
The party supports a gradual independence from Denmark.
On Wednesday, Democraatit’s leader, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, criticized Trump’s call in recent weeks for Greenland to become a U.S. territory.
“We don’t want to be Americans. No, we don’t want to be Danes. We want
to be Greenlanders, and we want our own independence in the future,” Nielsen told Sky News.
“And we want to build our own country by ourselves.”