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Donald Trump has reiterated his ambitions to buy Greenland, putting pressure on the Danish government as the son of the US president-elect prepares to visit the Arctic island.

Trump vowed to “make Greenland great again” after news broke late Monday of his son Donald Jr.’s “private visit” to the world’s largest island.

“Greenland is an incredible place and people will benefit enormously from it becoming part of our nation. We will protect and cherish it from a very vicious outside world,” the president-elect wrote on Truth Social.

Greenland, an autonomous part of the Kingdom of Denmark, has become the center of geopolitical intrigue after Trump proposed, first in 2019 and then again, to take control of the vast island, home to just 56,000 people but centrally located in the Arctic region .

His move puts Denmark, which retains full control of Greenland’s foreign and defense policy and also gives it a large annual economic subsidy, in a bind as the centrist government in Copenhagen considers how to respond to overtures from its own largest security service should be the guarantor: the USA.

Mette Frederiksen, Denmark’s prime minister, provoked Trump’s scorn in 2019 when she called it “an absurd discussion” and insisted that Greenland was not for sale. Trump immediately canceled an upcoming state visit to Denmark.

Many commentators believe that Denmark will have to react more subtly this time, even if Trump Jr.’s visit seems provocative.

Muté Egede, the Prime Minister of Greenland, said: “We are not for sale and never will be.”

But ahead of Greenland’s elections in April, Egede is pushing hard for independence from Denmark, which is only possible with the help of outside investors interested in the island’s natural resources, including large deposits of rare earths, as well as its potential for tourism.

Trump said early Tuesday: “My son Don Jr. and various representatives will be traveling there to visit some of the greatest areas and sights.” Trump Jr. said on a podcast that he had no plans to buy Greenland, just as a Greenland was a tourist and had no intention of meeting government officials.

Aaja Chemnitz, a Greenlandic member of the Danish parliament, warned her islanders not to let Trump dominate the region’s upcoming elections.

Opinion polls suggest strong Greenland support for independence in the coming decades, although not immediately, as the island considers how it will benefit economically from the DKr3.9 billion ($550 million) economic subsidy. which she receives annually from Copenhagen.

Denmark’s new King Frederik

Trump’s renewed commitment to Greenland received support from Elon Musk, his close ally and head of X and Tesla. “The people of Greenland should decide their future and I think they want to be part of America!” he wrote on X.