Donald Trump Jr. made a private visit to Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, which his father, the elected President of the United States, has his eyes on.
"My representatives have landed in Greenland. The reception was magnificent. They and the whole free world need security, protection, strength, and peace! This deal must happen," Trump Sr. wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, promising to "make Greenland great again."
According to him, Greenlanders will "greatly benefit" from becoming part of the United States.
At the airport in Nuuk, the capital of the Arctic island, Trump's son stated that he came here "as a tourist", that his father sends greetings to the Greenlanders, and that he and his companions have "only a couple of hours of daylight to see everything."
"The landscapes upon arrival are just stunning, so I’m very happy to be here," Trump Jr. said in response to a local journalist's question about the purpose of his visit.
During a press conference at Mar-a-Lago shortly after his son's landing, Trump Sr. stated that he does not rule out the use of military force to establish control over the Panama Canal and to "acquire" the world's largest island, which he claims Washington needs for "national security" reasons.
"About 45,000 people live in Greenland. No one even knows if Denmark has a legitimate claim to this territory. If it does, it should cede it to us, because this is a matter of our national security. The free world needs this. Just look around, you don’t even need binoculars: there are Chinese ships everywhere. There are Russian ships everywhere. We will not allow this to happen," Trump added two weeks before his return to the White House.
He even threatened to "impose very high tariffs on Denmark" if the kingdom proves to be uncooperative.
Canada also faced some criticism. Commenting on the political crisis in the neighboring country, Trump stated that "many Canadian citizens would like it to become the 51st American state."
He asserted that the United States "can no longer suffer" from the trade imbalance between the two countries. "Justin Trudeau was aware of the situation and decided to resign," he wrote on Truth Social.
"If Canada became an American state, there would be no tariffs, taxes would be lowered, and it would be protected from the threat of Russian and Chinese ships monitoring it," Trump added.
At the conference in Mar-a-Lago, the elected president clarified that he would not use armed forces to achieve this, but did not rule out economic measures.
Denmark firmly rejects all proposals for transferring control over Greenland. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen reaffirmed Copenhagen's position, stating: "Greenland belongs to the Greenlandic people."
She described the U.S. as "the closest ally" of the kingdom on all security and defense matters, but asserted that her government and the crown's position will not change.
"Greenland is not for sale and will not be sold in the future," the head of the Greenlandic government Mute Egede wrote on social media before Christmas, after the topic of territorial expansion resurfaced at Mar-a-Lago.
Reacting to the recent escalation, Egede stated: "Every day we work towards independence. We can and do cooperate with both Americans and Danes, but we must not succumb to hysteria and external pressure that distracts us from our own path."
This is not the first attempt by Washington to establish control over Greenland.
In 1946, American officials offered Copenhagen 100 million dollars in gold to acquire the world's largest island.
In 2019, Trump had already proposed buying Greenland but was turned down.
This time, according to Danish and Greenlandic politicians, he will once again come up empty-handed.