Greenland's leader says the island 'is ours' in defiance of message from Trump

Greenland's prime minister said Wednesday that “Greenland is ours” and cannot be taken or bought in defiance of a message from U.S.

President Donald Trump, who said his administration supported the Arctic island’s right of self-determination but added that the United States will acquire the territory “one way or another. Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte Bourup Egede said the island’s citizens are not American nor Danish because they are Greenlandic. The United States needs to understand that, he wrote in a post in Greenlandic and Danish on Facebook Wednesday. The future of Greenland will be decided by its people, he wrote. His post came hours after Trump made a direct appeal to Greenlanders in a speech to Congress on Tuesday.

“We strongly support your right to determine your own future, and if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America," Trump said. “We will keep you safe. We will make you rich. And together we will take Greenland to heights like you have never thought possible before," he added. But Trump also said his administration was “working with everybody involved to try to get it,” referring to his wishes to acquire Greenland from Denmark, a longtime U.S. ally.