Jeff Landry Visits Nuuk to Open US Consulate as Greenland Repeats It Is Not for Sale
Updated
Updated · BBC.com · May 20
Jeff Landry Visits Nuuk to Open US Consulate as Greenland Repeats It Is Not for Sale
15 articles · Updated · BBC.com · May 20
Jeff Landry began his first Greenland trip in Nuuk, saying Trump told him to "make a bunch of friends" as he attends a business summit and the opening of a new US consulate.
Monday's meeting with Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen stayed cordial, but Nielsen said Greenland's 57,000 people are not for sale and insisted there would be no parallel talks outside existing US-Denmark-Greenland negotiations.
The visit has drawn resistance because it comes without an official invitation and follows Trump's earlier threat to seize Greenland by force; Greenland's foreign minister said Washington's aim of acquiring the territory has not changed.
Landry's softer outreach marks a tactical shift from coercion to courtship, analysts said, but local politicians and residents still describe deep distrust and reject moves they see as bypassing diplomacy.
With mining a decades-long gamble, is sustainable tourism the faster and safer path to securing Greenland's economic freedom?
Can Greenland leverage its vast mineral wealth to gain independence, or will it be forced to trade one colonial power for another?