Observers doubt the new US president will buy the world's largest island but his interest underlines its strategic importance President Donald Trump's claim that US ownership and control of Greenland is "an absolute necessity" has underlined the strategic importance of the world's largest island in terms of American missile defences and anti-submarine operations.

President-elect Trump’s answer to an ‘I gotcha' question is capturing all of the headlines – his refusal to rule out military force in the Panama Canal – but many in the media are missing its intended messaging.