If President Trump tries to buy or annex Greenland, he may face the competitive proposition of an old allies: Britain.

According to the 83 -year -old Tomhøyem, he was the last minister of Greenland Autonomous territory from 1982 to 1987, and the position was suspended since then. He has visited the island 46 times, wrote a book about the island, and said that he believed that Trump's interest was "very positive and very constructive."

Greenland is rich in rare earth minerals and uranium. With the melting climate change of the Arctic Ice, it may be the strategic of global transportation routes. Even though Danish officials said that Greenland was not sold, Trump told reporters on Saturday: "I think we will have it."

Hoym said that based on a diplomatic conversation more than a century ago, Britain may actually have the right to refuse for the first time, which led to a 1917 treaty between the United States and Denmark. As Greenland was close to Canada, the British government participated in these talks, and Canada was under the jurisdiction of Britain at the time.

The treaty overlooks an agreement that the United States purchased a group of Caribbean Islands (now known as the Virgin Islands in the United States) from Denmark for $ 25 million in exchange for Denmark's sovereignty over Greenland. The then Woodrow Wilson signed it with his Secretary of State Robert Lansing.

"I don't know why President Trump's civil servants did not show him the document signed by his predecessor Wilson-this official document-indicates that Greenland is already in Denmark." Germany, where he lives now.

The final text of the 1917 Treaty did not mention any British character. But Hmyem is an expert in Greenland's history. He said that Britain's support for the treaty depends on this.

He said: "This idea is that if Denmark has a stupid idea to sell Greenland, then Britain has the first right to buy it, or because the future of Canada will consult its future."

NPR has asked the Daying Library and the British National Archives that any copy of the decryption of diplomatic cables that may support the Höyem account but have not yet echoed.

Another Arctic expert told NPR that she had never heard of any such British claims. She said that this is not part of any mainstream academic or diplomatic dialogue.

"We live in a rule -based order," said Jennifer Spence, the director of the Bell Five Science and International Affairs Center of Harvard and the International Affairs Center. Then things will soon become very chaotic.

She told NPR through a telephone at a conference in Norway: "Russia can come to the United States to ask Alaska to come back."

As for British officials, no matter what their predecessors may say in the proposal of the 1917 Treaty, they are unlikely to participate in any current discussion about Greenland's future. British Foreign Minister David Lammy has repeatedly wrote Trump's claims many times.

In response to the NPR inquiry, the British Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote in an email on Monday that it believes that Greenland is part of Denmark, and its future status is a problem for the Greenland people and the government and the Danish kingdom.

The NPR also contacted the Danish Prime Minister's Office of the Danish Parliament Parliament, and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Greenland Commission to comment on the Høyem account, but have not yet heard.

Greenland has claimed its self -determination, and most Greenland people are in favor of independence in Denmark. A recent public opinion survey with a small sample volume shows that most people who join the United States like it.

But Hoym said that many Greenland people talked about the acquisition of Greenland were "annoyed".

He said: "This is the way American businessmen operate." "We are now modern people, using the words sold 'and' to buy 'and'-this is the ghost of the past."