WHEN the people of Greenland woke up yesterday morning, they could have been forgiven for checking the date on their calendars.
For surely the reports coming from the USA had to be an April Fool’s joke. There were quite serious reports, however, that President Donald Trump was considering buying their homeland.
That’s right, the entire island of Greenland was reported to be the new target of the man who calls himself the Master of the Deal.
Some people pointed out that making Greenland the 51st state of the US could be a win-win situation for the Greenlanders and a USA that needs its resources – and think of all the new flags that would have to be manufactured.
But the title of 51st state has already been secured by the UK under new Prime Minister Boris Johnson and in any case, Greenland is emphatically not for sale, either by the Greenlanders themselves or by Denmark of which Greenland is an autonomous state.
The story was first broken in the Wall Street Journal, which said Trump had discussed the deal with various people “with varying degrees of seriousness”.
Some people took to social media to say it was the final proof that Trump was losing the plot.
The Greenland foreign ministry, meanwhile, issued a statement: “Greenland is rich in valuable resources such as minerals, the purest water and ice, fish stocks, seafood, renewable energy and is a new frontier for adventure tourism. We’re open for business, not for sale.”
Danish People’s Party spokesman, Soren Espersen, commented: “If he
is truly contemplating this, then this is final proof, that he has gone mad.”
Trump’s usual sycophants piled in – Republican Mike Gallagher tweeted: “The US has a compelling strategic interest in Greenland, and this should absolutely be on the table.”
Other Americans were happy to mock the president for his audacity. One tweeted: “Sure he can buy Greenland but only he can find it on a map.”
Trump has bought a lot of real estate in his time, including two sizable portions of Scotland – though not his mother’s old home on Lewis, funnily enough – but surely even he would baulk at buying the world largest
island. On planet Trump, such a deal might even make a kind of sense. Greenland is full of natural resources, and is only inhabited by 56,000 people.
Nor is it completely off the wall – France sold all or part of 13 states to the USA for $15 million in 1803 and in 1867, president Andrew Johnson bought Alaska from Russia for $7.2m.
Back in 1946, president Harry S Truman almost offered Denmark $100m in gold bars for Greenland, with US officials at the time saying it was a “military necessity”.
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