Washington DC - President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday returned to one of the most bizarre obsessions from his first term: buying the country of Greenland.

"For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

He also announced the former US ambassador to Sweden, Ken Howery, as his pick for envoy to Denmark.

Trump previously proposed buying the world's largest island and annexing it to the US in 2019, but Denmark, which has sovereignty over Greenland, responded with a resounding no.

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Greenland's foreign representative Vivian Motzfeldt dismissed Trump's latest comments on the Danish television channel TV2 as "nonsense."

Prime Minister Múte Bourup Egede also emphasized that Greenland is not for sale, but said it should be open to economic cooperation "because all cooperation and all trade cannot go through Denmark."

But responses from two Greenlandic members of the Danish parliament had a very different tone. Aaja Chemnitz said her party, the Inuit Ataqatigiit, was "open for business" and would like to see greater engagement from the US in Greenland, particularly in the areas of education and economic development.

Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam of the Siumut party also said she was open to dialogue. Trump understands the strategic and global importance of Greenland, she told the Danish DR radio station.

"But it is important to emphasize that Greenland is not a commodity or a geostrategic trophy," Høegh-Dam added.

Greenland, with around 56,000 inhabitants, is considered highly strategic due to its location in the Arctic, its proximity to Russia, its mineral wealth, and the presence of a US military base.