Local politicians reject Trump, declaring: ‘We don’t want to be Americans, we don’t want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders’

Greenland’s party leaders have pushed back against President Donald Trump’s repeated efforts to acquire the island, stating that Greenland’s future must be determined by its own people.

“We don’t want to be Americans, we don’t want to be Danes—we want to be Greenlanders,” Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and four other party leaders declared in a Friday night statement.

Trump reiterated on Friday his desire to make Greenland, a semiautonomous region, part of the U.S. “the easy way.” He claimed that if the U.S. does not take ownership, Russia or China will seize control, and the U.S. does not want either as neighbors.

“If we can’t do it the easy way, we’ll do it the hard way,” Trump said without clarifying what that meant. The White House noted it is considering various options, including military force, to gain control of the island.

Greenland’s party leaders emphasized once more that “Greenland’s future must be decided by the Greenlandic people.”

“As Greenlandic party leaders, we want to stress again our hope that the United States stops showing contempt for our country,” the statement read.

Officials from Denmark, Greenland, and the U.S. met in Washington on Thursday and will convene again next week to discuss issues related to control of the island.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an American takeover of Greenland would set a dangerous precedent.

The party leaders’ statement noted that “work on Greenland’s future is carried out in dialogue with the Greenlandic people and is based on international law.”

“No other country can interfere in this process,” they stated. “We must decide our country’s future ourselves—without pressure for hasty decisions, delays, or interference from other nations.”

The statement was signed by Nielsen, Pele Broberg, Múte B. Egede, Aleqa Hammond, and Aqqalu C. Jerimiassen.

While Greenland is the world’s largest island, it has a population of around 57,000 and no military of its own. Defense is provided by Denmark, whose military is vastly smaller than that of the U.S.

It remains unclear how other NATO members would respond if the U.S. decided to forcibly take control of the island, or whether they would come to Denmark’s aid.