Denmark is increasing defense spending in Greenland, said a Danish official Tuesday who called the announcement's timing with President-elect Trump's suggestion that the U.S. should own the territory an "irony of fate.

The president-elect is renewing calls he made during his first term for the U.S. to buy Greenland, the ice-covered semi-autonomous Danish territory, and mostly Inuit

Since his first term, President-elect Donald Trump has insisted that the United States should purchase Greenland — to the bewilderment of aides asked to investigate such a possibility, and despite repeated denials by top officials in Greenland and Denmark, of which the island is an autonomous territory, that it would ever be for sale at any price.