Denmark has told President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team that it’s willing to discuss the idea of boosting security in Greenland or increasing the US military presence on the island, Axios reported on Saturday.
The report comes after Trump said he would not rule out using military force to take Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark. Greenland is a founding member of NATO and already hosts a US military base.
The Axios report said Denmark made clear to the Trump team that Greenland was not for sale but said they could discuss expanding military infrastructure on the island. The US has a military presence in Greenland and pledged to defend the island under the 1951 Defense of Greenland Agreement.
On Friday, Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede, a proponent of independence, said he was willing to “talk” with Trump but made clear he didn’t want the island to become part of the United States. “Greenland is for the Greenlandic people. We do not want to be Danish, we do not want to be American. We want to be Greenlandic,” he said.
Trump has claimed he wants Greenland for “national security” purposes, although the island’s vast mineral and energy resources and its access to potential future shipping lanes are likely the real reason why he wants to annex the territory.
Other Trump officials have expressed support for the idea, including Vice President-elect JD Vance, who said Sunday that he thought there was a “deal to be made in Greenland.” Vance noted that the island, which has a population of only 56,000, has “a lot of great natural resources.”
