“We are not for sale and we will not be for sale,” the island’s Prime Minister, Mute Egede, said in December. “Greenland belongs to the people of Greenland.”

Greenland lies on the shortest route from North America to Europe, making it strategically important for the US. It is also home to a large US space facility.

The president-elect’s eldest son played a key role during the 2024 US election campaign, frequently appearing at rallies and in the media.

But he will not be travelling to Greenland on behalf of his father’s incoming administration, according to the Danish foreign ministry.

“We have noted the planned visit of Donald Trump Jr to Greenland. As it is not an official American visit, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark has no further comment to the visit,” the ministry told BBC News.

Hours after President-elect Trump’s latest intervention, the Danish government announced a huge boost in defence spending for Greenland. Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen described the announcement’s timing as an “irony of fate”.

On Monday Denmark’s King Frederik X changed the royal coat of arms to more prominently feature representations of Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

Some have seen this as a rebuke to Trump, but it could also prove controversial with Greenland’s separatist movement.

King Frederik used his New Year’s address to say the Kingdom of Denmark was united “all the way to Greenland”, adding “we belong together”.

But Greenland’s prime minister used his own New Year’s speech to push for independence from Denmark, saying the island must break free from “the shackles of colonialism”.