Contrary to US President Donald Trump's claim that "there are no written documents" about Denmark's ownership of Greenland, America confirmed in 1916 that it ceded Greenland to Denmark in exchange for islands in the Caribbean, writes the British newspaper The Guardian.
The USA in 1916. declaration stated that they "will not oppose" the expansion of Denmark's interests to Greenland.
"In approaching the signing today of the Convention for the Cession of the Danish West Indies to the United States of America, the undersigned Secretary of State of the United States, duly authorized by his Government, has the honor to declare that the Government of the United States will not object to the Danish Government extending its political and economic interests to the whole of Greenland," reads the declaration of the exchange convention.
The document was signed in New York on August 4, 1916, and was signed on behalf of the USA by Secretary of State Robert Lansing.
The Guardian writes that Trump claimed the opposite in a letter he recently sent to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Storr: "Denmark cannot protect that country from Russia or China, and why do they even have 'ownership rights'? There are no written documents, all that is known is that a ship landed there a hundred years ago."
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