INDEPENDENCE NOW OR LATER?
Some, such as the nationalist Naleraq party, the main opposition faction, want to seek independence quickly.
Others prefer to wait until the island is financially independent, such as the two parties who make up the outgoing coalition, the left-green Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) and social democratic Siumut.
The island, covered 80 per cent by ice, depends on its fisheries sector, which accounts for almost all of its exports, and annual Danish subsidies of more than US$565 million, equivalent to a fifth of its GDP.
The most impatient independence backers believe Greenland will soon be able to stand on its own thanks to untapped mineral reserves, including rare earths crucial to the green transition.
But the mining sector is still in its embryonic stages, hampered by high costs due to Greenland’s harsh climate and lack of infrastructure.
Trump floated the idea of buying Greenland during his first mandate, in a bid swiftly rejected by Danish and Greenlandic authorities.
Back in the White House, he has circled back on the ambition with greater fervour, refusing to rule out the use of force and invoking US national security.
Late on Sunday, Trump invited Greenlanders “to be a part of the Greatest Nation anywhere in the World, the United States of America”. He promised in a post on his social network Truth Social to make them “rich”.
The most recent polling on the issue, published in January, shows 85 per cent of Greenlanders are opposed to Trump’s idea.
“We don’t want to be American. He is so arrogant,” 58-year-old Rene Olsen, a ship repairman, told AFP on Monday.
Yet the statements by Trump – whom Prime Minister Egede has described as “unpredictable” – sent a jolt through the election campaign.
Naleraq’s nationalists say his remarks have given them leverage ahead of independence negotiations with Denmark.
But Trump’s remarks have also chilled some independence supporters, making continued ties with Copenhagen more attractive to them.
