Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free

Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world

Greenland does not want to be American or Danish but independent, according to the Arctic island’s prime minister at the end of a tumultuous week following the election of US president Donald Trump. refusal to reject force to control the territory.

Múte Egede said “the status quo is not an option” as he laid out the desire for the vast and geopolitically crucial island of 57,000 to have “its own voice” by gaining independence from Denmark and rejecting attempts Trump’s purchase of Greenland.

“We don’t want to be Danish, we don’t want to be American, we want to be Greenlandic,” he said at a press conference.

Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen said at the same meeting that Greenland’s desire for independence was “legitimate and understandable” while calling US interest in the autonomous territory “positive”.

This is a developing story