The first time Donald Trump offered to buy Greenland in 2019, Danish politicians went apoplectic, branding him and his proposal a joke.

This time, after the US president-elect renewed his interest in controlling the geopolitically important Arctic island, the government in Copenhagen is more cautious.

Trump’s off-the-cuff policymaking has a way of unnerving even his closest allies, especially when his actions border on trolling. On Tuesday, his son Donald Jr. made a “private visit” to Greenlandto admire the snowy beauty of the vast island with only 56,000 people.

The president-elect’s latest proposal has put politicians in Copenhagen and the Greenlandic capital of Nuuk in a big bind. How will they respond to the increasingly serious game of the US, their main guarantor of security, as it battles with Russia and China for influence in the Arctic?

Mette Frederiksen, the prime minister of Denmark, called Trump’s offer “useless” in 2019. Lars Løkke Rasmussen, now Denmark’s foreign minister, said “it must be an April Fool’s Day joke”. Trump then canceled a state visit to the Nordic country.

However, their tone was different on Tuesday. Frederiksen insisted that Greenland, an autonomous part of the kingdom of Denmark, “not for sale“. But he also emphasized that Denmark wants to cooperate with the US. “We have a clear interest that the US plays a big role in that region, and not, for example, Russia,” said Frederiksen, who remains responsible for Greenland’s foreign policy and security.

That awkward attempt to avoid sin Trump even before he began his second term he was far from popular with everyone in Copenhagen. Pelle Dragsted, political spokesman for the far-left Enhedslisten, sharply criticized Frederiksen for failing to call out Trump’s “disrespectful and dangerous neocolonial” language.

“The answer from our prime minister is clearly that Trump can do whatever he wants about Greenland and Denmark,” he added.

Trump himself seemed to understand this, telling a press conference on Tuesday that he would not stop military pressure or tariffs against Nato ally Denmark if he could not go to Greenland.

Trump’s comments touch a vein in Denmark because Copenhagen has long shown no value and even abuse in Greenland. Experts say Denmark is slow to appreciate the geopolitical significance of Greenland, perhaps the most important Arctic landmass and a potentially huge future source of minerals as the ice melts.

Recent revelations about the mass forced sterilization of indigenous women in Greenland in the 1960s have strained relations with Denmark and increased rhetoric about trying to break free from “the shackles of the colonial era”. , as the Prime Minister of Greenland Múte Egede said.

Frederiksen himself acknowledged on Tuesday that Greenland appears to be heading for independence, although he wants to keep the Danish kingdom – which also includes the autonomous Faroe Islands – together.

But Trump’s proposal is far from straightforward for Greenland, and demands something different balancing act from Nuuk politicians.

Egede has always emphasized that Greenland is “never for sale”. There is little desire on the island to trade one colonial power for another. But the prime minister and other Greenlandic politicians have emphasized that the island is open for business and wants to attract foreign, and especially US, investment.

Egede also wants independence from Copenhagen, using his new year speech to heighten his rhetoric on the issue ahead of the April election. The biggest obstacle to that is Greenland’s economic dependence on Denmark, and its annual economic subsidy of DKr3.9bn ($540mn) — almost $10,000 per Greenlander.

For all the focus on the oil and mineral wealth that climate change could unlock in Greenland, existing projects have made little progress over the past decade. A businessman from Greenland once said this: “There’s potential, but it looks like it’s close.”

Opposition politicians have accused Egede of doing little to promote freedom during his time in office, and some worry that Trump’s proposal could overshadow other issues in the upcoming election.

All of this is likely to please the US president-elect because he has kept traditional allies from Europe to Canada off balance in various ways of dealing. Greenland and Denmark will be busy guessing what will be enough to buy off Trump.

But Egede, who spoke on Tuesday, tried to emphasize that the future of one of the world’s most strategically important lands belongs only to Greenland’s 56,000 people.

“Our future and struggle for freedom is our business. While others, including Danes and Americans, have the right to their opinions, we must not be led by hysteria and external pressures that distract us from our path. The future is ours, and we shape it,” he SAYS.