Greenland’s Election: They Want Freedom, Still Good for Donald Trump

According to the AP, the party that favors a gradual path to Greenland’s independence from Denmark won a surprise victory in parliamentary elections.

The center-right Demokraatit Party has resisted Trump’s rhetoric, saying Greenlanders should decide the future of the strategically important territory. The territory holds large reserves of rare earth minerals needed to make everything from mobile phones to renewable energy technology. The Arctic island also has a U.S. air base and straddles strategic air and sea routes in the North Atlantic.

Demokraatit leader Jens-Friederik Nielsen told Sky News that the result should send a clear message to Trump that Greenland is not for sale.

“We don’t want to be Americans. No, we don’t want to be Danes. We want to be Greenlanders. And we want our own independence in the future. And we want to build our own country by ourselves, not with his hope,” he said.

The island of 56,000 people, most from Indigenous Inuit backgrounds, has been on a path toward independence since at least 2009.

Second-place finisher Naleraq is the most aggressively pro-independence, while Demokraatit favors a more moderate pace of change.

If they form a coalition government, it will determine how fast and aggressively they move towards independence. While the winner is a Trump critic, it’s still good for the US if they separate from Denmark. The US can make deals with them that would be better for both.

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