Greenland’s worries over US ‘fantasies’ harden into alarm

When US President Donald Trump made a pitch for Greenland during his first term in office, many of the island’s 57,000 inhabitants treated it as a joke.

After he returned to the presidency threatening to annex the world’s biggest island, amusement gave way to concern.

Now Greenlanders’ concerns are hardening into alarm. A day after Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro was snatched from his home in a US military operation, Trump once again vowed to take control of the Arctic territory.

“We need Greenland from a national security situation. It’s so strategic,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One, also mentioning Cuba and Mexico. “Let’s talk about Greenland in 20 days.”

Trump’s remarks were met with instant condemnation by both Greenland and Denmark, which controls the territory’s foreign policy and defence.

Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielssen said the comments ”completely and utterly unacceptable” and Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen said the US had no right to annex any part of its realm, which includes Greenland. She later added to the gravity of her warning: ”I will also make it clear that if the US chooses to attack another Nato country militarily, then everything stops, including Nato and thus the security that has been established since the end of the Second World War.”

UK prime minister Keir Starmer, who has refrained from criticising Trump’s intervention in Venezuela, said that only Denmark and Greenland could decide the territory’s future. Asked whether he would say “hands off Greenland” to Trump, Starmer said “yes”, in a sign of the depth of the unease among European allies.

The operation to capture Maduro has demonstrated that Trump is serious about pursuing uncontested dominance in the western hemisphere, in which Greenland is located. Unlike Venezuela, which has had a fraught relationship with the US for decades, Denmark and Greenland are Nato allies. A US move on Greenland would pose an existential test for an alliance already strained by the Trump administration’s approach to Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Once a Danish colony, Greenland is now a self-governing autonomous territory with its own language and leadership. But Nato member Denmark has retained control over key areas and contributes half of Greenland’s annual budget.

“We do not want a new coloniser,” said Masaana Egede, editor in chief of Greenland’s main newspaper Sermitsiaq. “We want to sit at the end of the table: to be able to decide what Greenland’s future holds”.

Greenland’s location and mineral resources have made it an attractive target for Trump. On the US’s doorstep, it sits on the shortest flight path between North America and Russia, making it a crucial forward-operating base for missile defence and surveillance. Buried beneath Greenland’s ice cap are rare earth elements such as dysprosium, neodymium and terbium, essential to modern technologies. At the same time, melting ice is unlocking new shipping lanes through the Arctic, fuelling rivalry between Russia and China.

In his comments on Sunday, Trump said Greenland was “covered with Russian and Chinese ships”, dismissing Denmark’s efforts to protect the territory. “You know what Denmark did recently to boost up security in Greenland? They added one more dog sled,” he said, to laughter from senator Lindsey Graham and others.

“We’re sitting here with people laughing at taking over our country that we've been fighting for our whole life,” said Egede. “We’re an ally to the US. There’s nothing stopping [Trump] from protecting the US through Greenland; he doesn’t have to threaten or annex Greenland to do that”.

The US already has a military footprint in Greenland. After Nazi Germany occupied Denmark during World War II, the US struck a deal with the Danish ambassador in Washington for American troops to set up base in Greenland, bypassing the German-controlled government in Copenhagen. They never left. Today, about 150 US air force and space force are permanently stationed at Pituffik Space Base. During a visit to the base last year, US vice-president JD Vance criticised Denmark for underinvesting in Greenland’s security architecture and “passing it all off” to the Americans.

Denmark has since pledged to invest 27.4bn Danish kroner (£3.2bn) to strengthen its military presence in the Arctic, including an underwater cable and the construction of a military base in Nuuk. At the same time, Denmark has sought to tackle a colonial legacy that has fuelled Greenlanders’ desire for independence. Frederiksen apologised in person last year to the victims of a forced contraception programme dating back to the 1960s that left some Greenlandic women infertile.

The US has exploited those grievances to drive a wedge between Greenland and Denmark. Denmark summoned the US charge d’affaires last summer over an alleged influence campaign in Greenland.

But while most Greenlanders want independence from Denmark, polls show overwhelming opposition to becoming part of the US An election last year produced a coalition of parties that are wary of Trump’s designs and favour a cautious approach to independence.

Greenland’s prime minister Nielsen criticised disrespectful posts on social media after the wife of one of Trump’s most influential aides posted a photograph of a map of Greenland in the colours of the US flag on X. “SOON” read the single word on the post by Katie Miller, who is married to Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller. Greenlanders hit back by posting photographs of their country in the red and white design of its own flag.

“Threats, pressure and talk of annexation do not belong anywhere between friends,” Nielsen said in response to Trump’s comments. “This is enough. No more pressure. No more hints. No more fantasies about annexation.”

For more on Trump, Greenland and the self-autonomous territory's colonial history, read Shattered families, lost children: the dark legacy of Greenland’s colonial past

Photograph by Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo