Respect our wish for independence says Greenland PM in message to Trump
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Múte Egede says the territory wants to be ‘master of our own house’. The prime minister of Greenland has called for everyone to respect for the territory’s independence, as US president-elect Donald Trump continues to express his desire to take it under US-control.
![[Trump was today sentenced in the hush money case in New York]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/10/14/SEI235553242.jpg)
Mute Egede, who has led the semi-autonomous Danish territory since 2021, says he has not spoken to Donald Trump, who said this week that US ownership and control is an “absolute necessity” to guarantee American security. At a joint press conference with Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen in Copenhagen, Mr Egede said: "We have a desire for independence, a desire to be the master of our own house ... This is something everyone should respect.”.
![[Mr Egede said Greenland wants more influence over foreign policy]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/10/16/2192577391.jpg)
Greenland is willing to increase dialogue with the US, Mr Egede added, and it will continue to cooperate with the Trump administration. But Mr Trump has not ruled out using military or economic action such as tariffs against Denmark to gain control of the island.
Greenland also wants to be given more influence over its own foreign policy from the Kingdom of Denmark, Mr Egedesaid during the conference. It is the larger of two autonomous territories within the Kingdom of Denmark, with all of its roughly 57,000 inhabitants full citizens of the north European country.
The row was sparked when Mr Trump called for the US to buy Greenland in a post on his Truth Social platform in December. “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,” Mr Trump, who will take office on 20 January, wrote on Truth Social.
