Greenland PM says ready for closer ties to US

COPENHAGEN: Greenland´s prime minister on Monday said that the Danish autonomous territory was open to closer ties with the United States, in areas such as mining, a Greenlandic broadcaster reported.

However, Mute Egede did not give any indication that the island would be open to a US takeover. US president-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on January 20, set off alarm bells last week when he refused to rule out military intervention to bring the Panama Canal and Greenland under US control.

Vice President-elect JD Vance, in an interview with broadcaster Fox News over the weekend, noted that the United States already has “troops in Greenland”, at a military base in the northwest.

Egede on Monday said that the territory was open to even closer ties with the United States, Greenlandic public broadcaster KNR reported. “We need to do business with the US. We have begun to start a dialogue and seek opportunities for cooperation with Trump,” Egede said at a press conference in Greenland.

The Greenlandic head of government added that the territory had its “doors open in terms of mining”. “It will be the same in the coming years. We have to trade with the US,” he said, according to KNR. In addition to its strategic location, Greenland, which is seeking independence from Denmark, holds massive untapped mineral and oil reserves, although oil and uranium exploration are banned.