Why does Trump want Greenland? President vows to get Greenland, sooner or later
President Donald Trump really, really wants Greenland.
Trump doubled-down on his interest in taking over Greenland in his adress to congress earlier this week, saying the United States will acquire Greenland one way or the other.
So why does Trump want Greenland?
Why does Trump want Greenland?
A possible reason President Donald Trump is pushing to acquire Greenland, a founding member of NATO, is for strategic military purposes and to assume control of the island nations' vast mineral resources.
Trump's latest move on Greenland comes weeks after the president vowed to change Greenland's name to "Red, White and Blueland."
Of his desire to acquire Greenland, the president said, he supports the right of the Danish territory’s people to determine their own future.
But he added in an aside: “I think we’re going to get it. One way or the other, we’re going to get it.”
U.S Rep. Buddy Carter, R-GA, asserted Greenland was vital to America's international security in a statement in which Carter also supported the renaming of the world's largest island.
"President Trump has correctly identified the purchase of what is now Greenland as a national security priority," read a portion of Carter's statement. "And we will proudly welcome its people to join the freest nation to ever exist when our Negotiator-in-Chief inks this monumental deal.”
U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-TN introduced the "Make Greenland Great Again" legislation, and also said that acquisition of Greenland by the United States is essential to national security.
Trump Administration not the first to consider taking over Greenland
The quest to obtain Greenland didn't start with Donald Trump.
The federal government reportedly had internal discussions on acquiring Greenland in 1867, 1910, 1946, 1955 and 2019.
Former Secretaries of State James F. Byrnes and William H. Seward long advocated acquiring Greenland, and Vice President Nelson Rockefeller at least considered making a move on Greenland.
Greenland responds to Trump's potential takeover
Greenland's Prime Minister Múte Bourup Egede posted response on Facebook to Trump's takeover bid:
"Kalaallit Nunaat is ours. We don't want to be Americans, rather Danes, we are Kalaallit," read a portion of Múte Bourup Egede's Facebook post. "Americans and their leader need to understand this. We're not for sale and can't just be taken.
"Our future is decided by us in Greenland."
Damon C. Williams is a Philadelphia-based journalist reporting on trending topics across the Mid-Atlantic Region.