ARCTIC FIXATION

Trump Administration Plans to Open U.S. Consulate in Greenland

After Trump’s talk of purchasing Greenland was rebuffed, the State Department reportedly notified Congress they want staff at the consulate by 2020.

The Trump administration reportedly plans to open a U.S. consulate in Greenland for the first time since 1953 after the president expressed interest in buying Greenland from Denmark, The Associated Press reports. In a letter to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the State Department said a consulate in Nuuk would be an asset to “enhancing political, economic, and commercial relationships across the Arctic region.” The department outlined a plan to have a staff of seven working at the consulate in 2020, stating that a U.S. presence there would “protect essential equities in Greenland” along with forming “deeper relationships with Greenlandic officials and society” and serving as an “effective platform to advance U.S. interests in Greenland.” Trump recently canceled his trip to Denmark after Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called talk of the U.S. purchasing Greenland “absurd.”