A United States senator and a Danish lawmaker on Monday issued a joint statement hitting out at U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to acquire Greenland.
Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, who represents Alaska, and Danish MP Aaja Chemnitz, who holds one of two seats in Denmark’s parliament representing Greenland, said the Arctic island is “open for business, but not for sale.”
Murkowski, who has criticized Trump on multiple occasions and voted to convict him on impeachment charges after the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack and who last week voted against one of his key Cabinet appointments, is vice chair of the standing committee of the Arctic Parliamentarians forum, while Chemnitz chairs the committee.
“Of course a businessman turned president would be interested. But Greenland is not for sale,” Murkowski and Chemnitz said in a statement obtained by POLITICO.
“As legislators representing Greenland in Denmark and the United States, we see a better path forward. The United States, like Denmark, should recognize that the future will be defined by partnership, not ownership,” they added.
Trump has insisted that the U.S. should take ownership of Greenland — a Danish territory since 1953 and a colony before that — and refused to rule out using military force or economic coercion to seize it.
“Greenland is a wonderful place. We need it for international security. And I’m sure that Denmark will come along — it’s costing them a lot of money to maintain it, to keep it,” the Republican leader told reporters last week on his first day in the Oval Office.
His comments triggered crisis meetings in Copenhagen and a sharp rebuke from Danish and Greenlandic leaders, who have repeatedly said the island is not up for grabs — including in a reportedly fiery 45-minute phone call between Trump and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen earlier this month.
Murkowski and Chemnitz welcomed “increased cooperation” between Greenland and the U.S. “on defense, mineral development, trade, and our common values of freedom and democracy.”
But Greenland is “an ally, not an asset,” they cautioned.
“We are certain that U.S. ambitions for national security can be achieved without altering Greenland’s autonomy … The future does not require us to redraw the borders on that map, but to work harder than ever across them,” Murkowski and Chemnitz said.
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