U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Greenland says Trump “has not forgotten” about his desire to take over the Danish territory, saying it was raised as recently as last weekend.
In a podcast released Wednesday, Jeff Landry, who is also the sitting governor of Louisiana, said the U.S. could “bring them right into the fold” with “some little things,” like sending more military personnel and opening up more trade, which he claimed Greenlanders support.
“He was talking to me Saturday night, ‘We need to get Greenland,’” Landry said of Trump while speaking on Breitbart’s Alex Marlow Show. “He has not forgotten about it.
“I laid out some things with the president,” Landry said later. “Let me tell you, from a strategic natural resources standpoint, that place is unbelievably important to us. I mean, there’s a great oil and gas reserve there. There are great rare earth minerals there. There’s great fishing there. I mean, it’s a great place, so we’re gonna get it.”
Trump’s vocal push to acquire Greenland early this year — and refusal to rule out using military force to do so — rattled Greenland and Denmark, a NATO ally that controls the self-governing island, and threatened to further rupture U.S. relations with the rest of the alliance.
Trump backed down on his threats in late January after speaking with NATO leaders and agreeing to talks between the U.S., Greenland and Denmark.
Landry visited Greenland in May and claimed on Wednesday’s podcast that, based on that trip, “the people of Greenland want to be with the United States” and are seeking “a closer relationship,” including more military presence.
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“They want to free themselves from Danish control, and so now it’s a matter of just making that happen. And I think it’s easy,” he said.
He pointed out that the U.S. once had a much larger military presence in Greenland but reduced it in recent decades. Only one permanent U.S. military outpost, the Pituffik Space Base, remains in Greenland today.
“It’s like … you had a girlfriend in high school, OK?” Landry said. “And y’all dated. Maybe you dated into college. It was great. It was a great relationship. And then it just fell apart. You didn’t leave on bad terms, you just left. And then you see her like 10 or 15 years later and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, let’s just get married.’
“And so the Greenlanders are just a little gun-shy. … They wanna know that if we’re coming back, there’s gonna be some permanence to it and it’s gonna be good for them. And so I think we’re gonna get it. I really do.”
A February poll conducted for The Copenhagen Post found that 62 per cent percent of Greenlanders don’t support independence from Denmark, while only five per cent favour closer ties with the U.S.
Roughly 90 per cent of Greenland’s population of about 57,000 people are Inuit.
In a statement to Global News provided by his office, Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said Landry’s visit had only “reinforced our position.”
“The position in Greenland has not changed,” Nielsen said. “The government and the people of Greenland has no desire to be part of the USA.”
Landry posted on social media after leaving Greenland that he would “continue to work to deepen ties between our people” and framed a future agreement between Greenland and the U.S. as one of “cooperation on security, economic development, and shared strategic interests in the Arctic.”
However, in a post on X marking Greenland’s National Day on June 21, Landry equated the holiday’s “celebration of liberty and opportunity” with America’s upcoming 250th anniversary on July 4.
“Perhaps America’s 251st birthday can be celebrated with the addition of it’s [sic] 51st state!” he posted.
Canada — which has faced its own “51st state” rhetoric — has found common cause with Greenland amid Trump’s threats, opening a new consulate in the island’s capital Nuuk in February.
In March while visiting Norway with European leaders, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada will continue to “stand with Denmark and Greenland.”
He has also pointed to the issue as an example for needed increases to Canada’s military presence in the Arctic, though he stressed during that Oslo press conference that the biggest threat to Arctic sovereignty remains Russia.
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