COPENHAGEN: The vast majority of Greenland residents do not want their island to become part of the United States as envisaged by President Donald Trump, according to a poll published Wednesday.

Trump, who returned to the White House in late January, has signalled that he wants the Arctic island — which is believed to hold large untapped mineral and oil reserves — to become part of the United States and has suggested the possible use of force or tariffs to annex the autonomous Danish territory.

When asked if they wanted to become part of the United States, 85 percent of Greenlanders said no, according to the poll published in the Danish Berlingske and Greenland’s Sermitsiaq dailies.

Six percent of those polled said they were in favour and nine percent were undecided, according to the poll conducted by the Verian agency.

“It’s the first poll that asked a representative section of Greenland’s population and I think this is very important,“ Kasper Moller Hansen, a political science professor at the University of Copenhagen, told AFP.

“I think this poll shows very clearly that they do not want to be American,“ he said.

Around 45 percent of Greenlanders view Trump’s interest in their island as a “threat”, while 43 percent view it as an “opportunity” and 13 percent are undecided, according to the poll.

The poll questioned 497 respondents 18 years and older between January 22 and 26 and had a margin of error of 1.9 to 4.4 percentage points.

Greenland has 57,000 residents.

Officials in Greenland, which depends heavily on Denmark for subsidies, have long been pushing for independence but have said they are open to doing business with the United States.

A day after Trump was sworn in as president, Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede insisted that Greenlanders “don’t want to be American”.