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.

"It is ironic that it coincides with the announcement from the United States," the Danish defense minister said.

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