Greenland’s flag flies over the island on February 1, 2025. (Photo by Reuters)

Copenhagen, February 1 (RHC)-- Denmark has refuted U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims about acquiring Greenland as his administration doubles down on his expansionist rhetoric.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said on Friday that Greenland is “not for sale” after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed that Trump is serious about acquiring Greenland.  “It is also not a joke when we say that of course, Greenland should not become American,” Rasmussen said.

“The Kingdom of Denmark has no interest in that.  Neither does Greenland, that is crystal clear.”

In the days leading to Trump’s inauguration, Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede said: “We do not want to be Danes.  We do not want to be Americans.  We want to be Greenlanders.”

Trump’s interest in buying Greenland is “not a joke,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday, adding that acquiring Greenland was in the US’s national interest and needs to be solved.  “This is not a joke, like what he is saying is pretty accurate.  People have been talking about it for years,” he said. 

“This is not about acquiring land for the purpose of acquiring land. This is in our national interest, and it needs to be solved.  President Trump’s put out there what he intends to do, which is to purchase it.” 

Trump is supposedly interested in Greenland because he thinks at some point in the future, China might take over the island.  According to Rubio, the Chinese could send naval vessels to these facilities and operate from there.

Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for China’s embassy in Washington, emphasized in a statement that Rubio’s accusations about a possible dual-use facility in Greenland by China “are totally groundless and unfounded.”