President-elect Donald Trump suggested the United States should purchase Greenland after appointing PayPal co-founder Ken Howery as his U.S. ambassador to Denmark.
“For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity,” Trump said in the Truth Social post.
In late 2019, Trump said that buying Greenland, which is owned by Denmark, was “strategically” interesting, triggering an angry response from Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
“Denmark essentially owns it. We’re very good allies with Denmark. We protect Denmark like we protect large portions of the world,” Trump said at the time.
“Strategically, it’s interesting, and we’d be interested, but we’ll talk to them a little bit. It’s not number one on the burner,” he added.
According to a book from The New York Times’s Peter Baker and The New Yorker’s Susan Glasser, the president-elect suggested to aides of his during his first term that the U.S. could trade Puerto Rico for Greenland.
Trump also made waves abroad over the weekend with his posts and comments about the Panama Canal.
On Saturday, Trump expressed frustration with fees charged for the use of the Panama Canal via Truth Social, asserting that he would stipulate that oversight of the canal return to the U.S. when he comes back into the White House if that is not changed.
“The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, especially knowing the extraordinary generosity that has been bestowed to Panama by the U.S,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “This complete ‘rip-off’ of our Country will immediately stop.”
