Donald Trump Jr.’s Greenland Visit Met with Resistance Amid Ongoing U.S. Territorial Ambitions
PHOTOGRAPH: EVA MARIE UZCATEGUI/GETTY IMAGES
Donald Trump Jr.’s brief visit to Greenland on Wednesday stirred a mix of curiosity and discontent, with some locals expressing their displeasure, including flipping him the middle finger, according to a senior Greenlandic politician.
Pipaluk Lynge, an MP from Greenland’s largest political party, told Politico on Thursday that the reception for the U.S. President-elect’s son was far from universally welcoming. “His welcome was not entirely warm,” Lynge said. “People were curious, but some took pictures giving him [the] finger at the airport. Some wrote on Facebook: ‘Yankee go home.’”
Despite these reactions, President-elect Donald Trump portrayed a different narrative on his Truth Social account, sharing photos of smiling locals in MAGA hats and asserting that his son’s reception “has been great.” Lynge, however, dismissed this portrayal as contrived. “It was all staged to make it seem like we—the Greenlandic people—were MAGA and love to be a part of the USA,” she said.
Trump Jr. arrived in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, on a “Trump”-branded plane for what was described as a “personal” goodwill visit. During his stay, he reassured locals, saying, “We’re going to treat you well.” The visit comes amid ongoing tensions over President-elect Trump’s interest in acquiring the mineral-rich Arctic territory for national security purposes.
The idea has been met with strong opposition from local and Danish officials. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has repeatedly called Trump’s proposal “absurd,” reaffirming, “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders. There is a lot of support among the people of Greenland that Greenland is not for sale and will not be in the future either.”
Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte Bourup Egede echoed Frederiksen’s sentiments earlier this week, dismissing Trump’s proposal as a distraction. “While others, including Danes and Americans, are entitled to their opinions, we should not be caught up in the hysteria and external pressures distract us from our path,” he said.
Lynge addressed Trump directly in the Politico article, drawing attention to the treatment of Indigenous peoples in the U.S.: “We know how they treat the Inuit in Alaska. Make that great before trying to invade us.”
The visit highlights ongoing friction between Greenlandic officials and the U.S. over territorial ambitions, underscoring the strong resistance to Trump’s controversial proposals.
