President Trump said Sunday the discussions about the U.S. buying Greenland are primarily about location, location, location.
“Essentially it’s a large real estate deal,” Mr. Trump told reporters in New Jersey. “And strategically, for the United States it would be nice.”
The president said he’ll talk to the leaders of Denmark, which holds Greenland as an autonomous territory. But he said it’s not a priority.
“It’s something we talked about,” he said. “Denmark essentially owns it. We’re very good allies with Denmark. We protect Denmark like we protect large portions of the world. So the concept came up, and I said, ’Certainly, I’d be [interested].’ 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.”
The Wall Street Journal raised eyebrows with a report last week saying Mr. Trump is interested in purchasing the gigantic island situated between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans.
Politicians in Denmark, which controls the island, while granting it autonomy, largely scoffed at the idea, likening it to an April Fool’s Day joke.
Mr. Trump said he may stop off in Denmark after an upcoming visit to Poland, though “not for that reason.” He said it would make sense financially for Denmark to sell the mineral-rich island.
“It’s hurting Denmark because they’re losing almost $700 million a year carrying it. So they carry it at a great loss,” he said.
Greenland said Friday that it’s not for sale.
“Greenland is rich in valuable resources such as minerals, the purest water and ice, fish stocks, seafood, renewable energy and is a new frontier for adventure tourism. We’re open for business, not for sale,” the foreign ministry tweeted.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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