“Of course, I would be interested if a businessman became president. But Greenland is not for sale,” Murkowski and Chemnitz said in a statement obtained by POLITICO.
“As lawmakers representing Denmark and Greenland in the United States, we see a better path forward. “Like Denmark, the United States must recognize that the future is defined by partnerships, not ownership,” he added.
Trump has argued that the United States should take ownership of Greenland, a Danish territory and former colony since 1953, and has not ruled out using military force or economic coercion to occupy it.
“Greenland is a really cool place. International security requires it. And I am confident that Denmark will join us. It costs a lot of money to get it up and running,” the Republican leader told reporters on his first day in the Oval Office last week.
His comments sparked crisis meetings in Copenhagen, where Danish and Greenlandic leaders repeatedly said they were not ready to take the island up for grabs, including a heated 45-minute phone call between Trump and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen earlier this month. . .
Murkowski and Chemnitz welcomed the “increasing cooperation” between Greenland and the United States on “defense, mineral development, trade, and shared values of freedom and democracy.”
But Greenland is “an ally, not an asset,” they warned.
“We are confident that we can achieve America’s national security ambitions without changing Greenland’s autonomy. The future will require us to work harder than ever before to redraw borders on the map,” Murkowski and Chemnitz said. said.