Denmark’s Prime Minister on Wednesday told Donald Trump that it was up to Greenland to decide on its future, following the US President-elect’s provocative remarks about seizing the island.

Trump, who takes office on January 20, set off alarm bells last week when he refused to rule out military intervention to bring the Panama Canal and Greenland under US control.

In a statement, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s office said that she had spoken to Trump in a telephone call and “declared that it is up to Greenland itself to decide on independence”.

Frederiksen also referred to Greenlandic Prime Minister Mute Egede’s statement “that Greenland is not for sale” in the call that lasted about 45 minutes, according to the statement.

Frederiksen told public broadcaster DR that the two had a “straightforward and long conversation”.

Vice-President-elect JD Vance, in an interview with broadcaster Fox News over the weekend, noted that the United States already has “troops in Greenland”, at a military base in the northwest.

In Wednesday’s call, Frederiksen “emphasised the importance of strengthening security in the Arctic” and that Denmark was “ready to take even greater responsibility for this”.

The two also discussed the war in Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East and the relationship with China, according to the statement.

Egede on Monday said that the territory was open to even closer ties with the United States, Greenlandic public broadcaster KNR reported.

“We need to do business with the US. We have begun to start a dialogue and seek opportunities for cooperation with Trump,” Egede said at a press conference in Greenland.

In addition to its strategic location, Greenland, which is seeking independence from Denmark, holds massive untapped mineral and oil reserves, although oil and uranium exploration are banned.

Trump first claimed that he wanted to buy Greenland in 2019 during his first term as President – an offer swiftly rebuffed by Greenland and Denmark.

During a visit to Denmark last week, Egede said that the Arctic territory was “entering a new era, in a new year where Greenland is in the centre of the world”.

He said that Greenland would continue to cooperate with the United States, but stressed that this would be on its own terms and that it was “the Greenlandic people who decide their future”.

-Agence France-Presse