Trump’s focus on Greenland ignites sense of defiance on isolated Arctic island [Video]

President Trump’s focus on taking control of Greenland, a self-governing territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, has upset many in the Arctic.

Mr. Trump’s Greenland fixation is offensive to Aqqaluk Lynge, an elder Inuit statesman who once represented the Arctic population at the United Nations. Around 57,000 people live in Greenland, a population that’s largely Inuit, an indigenous Arctic people of Alaska, Canada, and Greenland. Greenlanders have united behind a mantra: we are not for sale, but we are open for business. And Lynge offered up a defiant message of his own. 

“If you should try something in the Arctic, you should be very careful,” Lynge said. “I think we should say, ice is slippery.”

U.S. interest in Greenland predates Trump 

Greenland, first settled by Viking adventurer Erik the Red around 982, has been part of the Danish Kingdom for around 300 years, though its capital — Nuuk — sits closer to New York than it …