The “fire” lit by Donald Trump’s statement that the US would like to buy Greenland has flared up again in recent hours, in the wake of the new US president’s son’s current visit to the region.

The Danish government confirmed Donald Trump Jr’s visit to Greenland, but did not give further details as “it is not an official visit by a US representative”.

Donald Trump, for his part, did not miss the opportunity to bring the debate back into the news, even posting a video of a Greenland resident wearing the distinctive red hat with the new US president’s signature slogan, Make America Great Again. The man starring in the video is heard saying “We are the richest nation and we can’t capitalize on it Denmark is exploiting us too much.”

“I hear that the people of Greenland are MAGA. My son, Don Jr. and several delegates will be traveling there to visit some of the most important sites. Greenland is an incredible place and the people there will benefit greatly if and when it becomes part of our nation. We will protect it, we will love it, against the vicious outside world. MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN! (Make Greenland great again,” Donald Trump wrote in the video’s caption.

As protothema.gr has written, what Trump is now advocating is the paramount need to protect and further consolidate US interests in two critical regions of the world, Panama and Greenland. However, there is an additional common feature that creates the coupling bond between two very different countries: the threat of Chinese expansion. In both tiny and tropical Panama – the southernmost tip of Central America – and in vast and arctic Greenland in the northernmost reaches of the American continent, Donald Trump sees the onslaught of the Chinese. Hence, he speaks of the need for immediate and appropriate measures to be taken for the US to defend interests that it considers to be vested, but also to avoid being in the uncomfortable position of being the tail behind China in vital areas such as international trade and maritime transport, energy and industry.

The message from the King of Denmark

At the same time, the move by Denmark’s King Frederick to change his royal coat of arms in an attempt to send a message of resolve to the new occupant of the White House has caused a sensation.

For the past 500 years, Denmark’s royal coats of arms have contained three crowns, the symbol of the Calmar Union between Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, which Denmark led between 1397 and 1523. They are also an important symbol of its neighbour Sweden.

In the new version, however, the crowns have been removed and replaced with a larger polar bear and a larger, compared to before, ram to symbolize Greenland and the Faroe Islands respectively.

Finally, according to the same announcement, the changes were made on the recommendation of a committee appointed shortly after King Frederick’s enthronement on 14 January 2024.