Blinken: US No Longer Wants to Buy Greenland

Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Greenland Thursday—and confirmed that the US is no longer interested in buying the autonomous Danish territory. The Guardian reports that Blinken smiled when a reporter asked if the US had ruled out plans to buy Greenland. "I can confirm that’s correct," he said. Blinken, who met officials including Mute Egede, Greenland's new prime minister, said he was there because the US "deeply values our partnership." In 2019, Donald Trump said the US was interested in acquiring the island in "a large real estate deal." Trump abruptly called off a trip to Denmark after its government rejected the "absurd" idea.

"Greenland is not Danish. Greenland is Greenlandic," Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said at the time. Thankfully, the time where you buy and sell other countries and populations is over." Trump described Frederiksen as "nasty." The New York Times reports that Greenland’s foreign minister referred to Trump's remarks when discussing talks with US officials Thursday, saying "this is not considered a real estate deal." "Secretary Blinken has made it very clear that he is here for the people living in the Arctic, for the people living in Greenland," Pele Broberg said. (A former Trump administration official says the former president suggested trading "dirty" Puerto Rico for Greenland.)