Greenland's prime minister says island isn't for sale as Trump seeks control 'one way or the other'

NUUK, Greenland (AP) — Greenland’s prime minister has a message for President Donald Trump: “Greenland is ours.”

Múte Bourup Egede made the statement on Facebook Wednesday, just hours after Trump declared in his speech to a joint session of Congress that he intends to gain control of Greenland “one way or the other.”

“Kalaallit Nunaat is ours,” Egede said in the post, using the Greenlandic name for his country.

“We don’t want to be Americans, nor Danes; We are Kalaallit. The Americans and their leader must understand that. We are not for sale and cannot simply be taken. Our future will be decided by us in Greenland,” he said. The post ended with a clenched fist emoji and a Greenlandic flag.

On the streets of Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, where the temperature was 4 degrees blow zero (minus 20 Celsius) at midday Wednesday and the bright sunshine reflected blindingly off a layer of fresh-fallen snow, people are taking Trump’s designs on their country seriously.

Since taking office six weeks ago, Trump has repeatedly expressed his interest in Greenland, a huge mineral-rich island that sits along strategic sea lanes in the North Atlantic. Greenland, a self-governing territory of Denmark with a population of about 56,000 people, lies off the northeastern coast of Canada, closer to Washington, D.C., than to Copenhagen.

Trump made a direct appeal to Greenlanders in his speech to Congress, just a week before the country’s voters cast their ballots in parliamentary elections.

“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’s message came with undertones of the great power politics that have marked the early days of his second administration. Since taking office, Trump has suggested moving Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip and turning it into a “Riviera of the Middle East;” announced his intention to regain control of the Panama Canal; and stopped arms deliveries to Ukraine after the country’s president was slow to endorse Washington’s roadmap for a peace deal with Russia.

Trump said his administration was “working with everybody involved to try to get” Greenland.

“We need it really for international world security. And I think we’re going to get it. One way or the other, we’re going to get it,” Trump said.

Lisa Aardestrup, an 18-year-old language student, wasn’t interested in Trump’s sales pitch as she stepped carefully off a bus and onto an icy street on her way to class Wednesday morning.

She’s concerned that becoming part of the United States would damage Greenland’s environment and the fishing industry, which accounts for about 90% of the country’s exports, while fueling inflation and higher taxes.

“We feel like it’s a bad idea, and we just more want to be like our little island that’s more independent than anything else,” Aardestrup said.

“Greenland is very independent,” she added.

Aardestrup is also worried about importing the school shootings, angry politics and homelessness that dominate the news from the U.S. She fears that would threaten Greenland’s culture, which she learned about from the stories her parents told her.

“There’s a lot of great people here,” she said. “Like, you create very lovely and longstanding friendships. And I think that’s what I love about Greenland so much.”

Greenlanders voted overwhelmingly in favor of self-government in a 2009 referendum that also established a pathway to independence whenever the people of the island support such a move. Under the terms of that referendum, Denmark remains responsible for Greenland’s defense and foreign affairs, with the local government controlling other matters.

Asked about Trump’s comments, Denmark’s foreign minister said he didn’t think Greenlanders wanted to separate from Denmark only to become “an integrated part of America.”

Lars Løkke Rasmussen said he believed Trump’s reference to respecting Greenlanders’ right to self-determination was the most important part of his speech.

“I’m very optimistic about what will be a Greenlandic decision about this,” he said during a trip to Finland. “They want to loosen their ties to Denmark. We’re working on that, to have a more equal relationship.”

Løkke added that it was important for next week’s elections to be free and fair “without any kind of international intervention.”

While opinion polls suggest most Greenlanders don’t want to become part of the U.S., not everyone agrees.

Yulao Sandkreen is thrilled with the notion that Trump might offer Greenlanders a chance to be part of the United States.

Standing outside a supermarket with a coffee and cigarette in hand, Sandkreen, who had a relative who worked with the U.S. Coast Guard, focused on the advantages that could come with tighter bonds with the United States.

“We need McDonald's,’’ he said. “We need everything.’’

Dazio reported from Berlin.

This story has been corrected to show Trump was speaking before a joint session of Congress and was not making a State of the Union address.

A piece of ice floats on the sea in Nuuk, Greenland, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A woman walks on a beach in Nuuk, Greenland, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A woman walks with her dogs on a beach in Nuuk, Greenland, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Relatives and family members throw rice at Salik and Malu Schmidt as they leave the church of our Savior after getting married in Nuuk, Greenland, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A piece of ice is photographed melting at the shore of a beach in Nuuk, Greenland, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

The northern lights appear over homes in Nuuk, Greenland, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

President Donald Trump talks about Greenland as he addresses a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 4, 2025, as Vice President JD Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson of La., listen. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

BOSTON (AP) — Marcel Hug of Switzerland won his ninth Boston Marathon men's wheelchair title on Monday, riding a tailwind to finish in an unofficial time of 1 hour, 16 minutes, 6 seconds. He missed breaking his own course record by 33 seconds.

Two-time winner Daniel Romanchuk of Champaign, Illinois, was second behind Hug for the fourth straight time.

The fastest field in event history and ideal weather had runners expecting fast times in the 130th edition of the world's oldest and most prestigious annual marathon.

The athletes arrived in Hopkinton with frost on the ground and temperatures in the 30s. It had warmed to 45 degrees (7 degrees Celsius) by the the time defending champions Sharon Lokedi and John Korir started the race, followed by more than 30,000 others.

It was the coldest starting temperature since 2018, when it was 38 degrees and raining. Last year, the thermostat was at 58 when runners set off.

Military marchers and 50 wheelchair athletes were first over the starting line, with the men's and women's fields following. Lokedi, who shattered the women's course record last year, is back, and Korir goes for another win in the men's race a year after posting the third-fastest time in Boston history.

On the 50th anniversary of the “Run for the Hoses,” when Jack Fultz won in temperatures approaching 100 degrees (38 degrees Celsius), cool weather greeted the runners in Hopkinton and was expected to reach into the 40s during the day.

Fultz, who was serving as grand marshal, said as he waited to board his ride that the weather was the “polar opposite” from the day of his 1976 win.

“I am just trying to soak it all in, to remember it all," he said. “There are almost are no words to fully describe the kind of experience. You have a dream of a lifetime and all of a sudden it comes true.”

A tailwind was expected to help the competitors as they make their way to Boston's Back Bay.

Runners may notice some changes this year, with the race turning to a crowd scientist for help in spreading things out a little so they don’t face bottlenecks on the narrow streets of the eight cities and towns along the course. At the start is a new statue of and by marathon pioneer Bobbi Gibb — the first statue on the course honoring a woman.

Race Director Dave McGillivray sent the group of about 50 members of the Massachusetts National Guard members off at 6 a.m. McGillivray said it's the coldest start he could remember in his nearly four decades working at the race.

Staff Sgt. Mackenzie Smith and Spec. Benjamin De Boer stepped back and forth to try to stay warm before they set off on the course, but the cold didn't dampen their enthusiasm for participating in the Boston Marathon for the first time.

“It's an honor and a blessing to be standing at the Boston Marathon start,” Smith said. “The history that goes with the marathon resonates with me, growing up in Massachusetts.”

McGillivray said the cold added another layer of complexity because runners were arriving in Hopkinton with many layers of extra clothing that would be discarded at the start line and need to be collected. But as the sun comes out, he said it will be ideal for running.

Associated Press Writer Jennifer McDermott in Hopkinton, Mass., contributed to this report.

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FILE - Runners approach the finish line during the Boston Marathon, April 21, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

Workers scrub the finish line clean prior to the Boston Marathon, Monday, April 20, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)