Deutsche Welle :
With its spectacular icescapes, high mountains, tundra and unique wildlife, Greenland offers countless settings for impressive photos and videos.
That, at least, is the reason Donald Trump Jr gave for his trip to Greenland on Tuesday. He said he was visiting to gather material for a podcast.
“As someone who has traveled to some fascinating places across the globe as an outdoorsman, I’m excited to stop into Greenland for a little bit of fun this week,” Trump Jr. told the US broadcaster Fox News before his visit.
Yet, the Instagram profile of the self-proclaimed nature lover contains many political posts supporting his father, and the apparent vacation has been overshadowed by the US president-elect’s claims that Greenland should become part of the United States.
Since winning the US presidential election in November, the elder Donald Trump has called for US control of several places outside the country.
He would like to see the Panama Canal back under US sovereignty, and, after threatening northern neighbor Canada with punitive tariffs, Trump even brought up a merger of the two North American giants as an alternative. Canadian officials have strenuously rejected the offer.
Asked Tuesday whether he could promise not to use military or economic coercion to gain control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, Trump said: “No, I can’t assure you on either of those two. But I can say this, we need them for economic security.”
On Wednesday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said EU leaders were taken aback by Trump’s failure to reject military action against Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.
“In my discussions with our European partners, there has been a notable incomprehension when it comes to current statements from the US regarding the principle of the inviolability of borders,” Scholz said, without referring to Trump by name.
The European Union has aimed to avoid confrontation on the issue, with a spokesperson for the European Commission saying it was “looking forward” to working with the incoming US administration.
“We are talking about fairly wild hypothetical stuff about an administration that hasn’t come in yet,” the spokesperson said of Trump’s remarks.
Trump’s claims to Greenland have been among his most repeated. In 2019, during his first term of office, the former real estate entrepreneur and reality TV star expressed an interest in buying the Danish territory.
