Greenland 'cannot be bought,' PM says after Trump speech to Congress

The prime minister of Greenland warned President Donald Trump off his controversial ambition to acquire the territory, writing on social media Wednesday, "Greenland is ours," Report informs via ABC News.

Trump again expressed his desire to take control of the Arctic island -- which is a semiautonomous territory within Denmark -- in his speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday. America, he said, would acquire the strategic territory "one way or the other."

Prime Minister Mute Bourup Egede dismissed Trump's remarks in a post on Facebook.

"Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders," he wrote. "We are not Americans, we are not Danes because we are Greenlanders. This is what the Americans and their leaders need to understand, we cannot be bought and we cannot be ignored."

"The future of the country will be determined by us in our country, of course," Egede added. "Greenland is ours. We do not want to be Americans, nor Danes, we are Kalaallit. The Americans and their leaders must understand that."

"We are not for sale and cannot be taken," Egede said. "The future is decided by us in Greenland."

Trump has expressed ambition to acquire Greenland since his first term. The mineral-rich island sits in the Arctic Circle along two potential shipping routes through the Arctic -- the Northwest Passage and the Transpolar Sea Route -- which are expected to become more navigable as climate change and warmer waters causes the retreat of Arctic sea ice.

During his address to Congress on Tuesday, Greenland was central to Trump's foreign policy remarks.