‘red line’
Landry’s visit comes as transatlantic tensions over Trump’s repeated claims to the territory have eased but not disappeared.
Greenland’s foreign minister, Mute Egede, also told reporters that the US has not given up its intentions to take the territory.
“We have our own red line. The starting point of the Americans has not changed either,” Egede said.
“Discussions are taking place within the working group,” Egede emphasized. “We will not have parallel discussions.”
Landry, who is the governor of Louisiana, arrived for his first visit as US special envoy to Greenland on Sunday. He will attend an economic forum in the capital of Greenland on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Asked by Danish broadcaster TV2, Landry said he was in Greenland to explore ways to strengthen relations with the United States.
He also said that Trump had told him to “go out there and make a bunch of new friends.”
‘No Guinea Pig’
“Greenlanders are not guinea pigs in a geopolitical project,” Wangenheim said in a post on Linkedin.
In February, an unsolicited offer by Trump to send a naval hospital ship to the Arctic island sparked outrage.
Nielsen wrote on his Facebook page at the time: “This will be ‘no thank you’ from us.”
The US envoy is accompanied by the US ambassador to Denmark, Kenneth Howery, who arrived on Monday.
(aw)
