Denmark is bolstering 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.

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.

Denmark increases defense spending as President-elect Trump calls acquiring Greenland a U.S. “necessity.” Danish officials call the timing “ironic.”