US-Greenland: Danish Prime Minister defies Donald Trump’s claim on Arctic territory

Denmark has ruled out relinquishing Greenland to the US, the nation’s leader has declared during her official visit to the Arctic Island.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen signalled her defiance to looming threats from the Trump Administration in a three-day official visit to the vast territory just days after US Vice President JD Vance’s visit to a US airbase in Greenland.

Standing alongside Greenland’s PM Jens-Frederik Nielsen in a show of unity on Thursday, Ms Frederiksen boldly declared to US President Donald Trump that “You can’t annex other countries”.

However, she did make an offer to work more closely with the US on security in the mineral-rich, strategically critical island, which is becoming more accessible due to climate change.

Mr Trump has said that the landmass is critical to US security. It’s geographically part of North America, but is a semiautonomous territory belonging to the Kingdom of Denmark.

After her arrival Wednesday, Ms Frederiksen walked the streets of the capital, Nuuk, with the incoming Greenlandic leader, Mr Nielsen. She is also to meet with the future Naalakkersuisut, the Cabinet, in a visit due to last through Friday.

Following her arrival, Ms Frederiksen said: “It is clear that with the pressure put on Greenland by the Americans, in terms of sovereignty, borders and the future, we need to stay united.”

“It has my deepest respect how the Greenlandic people and the Greenlandic politicians handle the great pressure that is on Greenland,” she said in a government statement announcing the visit.

She made the offer to work more closely with the US on defence of the region on Thursday as she outlined Denmark’s commitment to reinforcing its focus on security in the Arctic.

But then she offered a defiant comment.

“When you demand to take over a part of ... Denmark’s territory, when we are met by pressure and by threats from our closest ally, what are we to believe in, about the country that we have admired for so many years.”

It was a similar tone to that struck by Mr Nielsen’s comments in the days leading up to her visit.

“We must listen when others talk about us. But we must not be shaken. President Trump says the United States is ‘getting Greenland.’ Let me make this clear: The US is not getting that. We don’t belong to anyone else. We decide our own future,” he wrote Sunday on Facebook.

“We must not act out of fear. We must respond with peace, dignity and unity. And it is through these values that we must clearly, clearly and calmly show the American president that Greenland is ours.”

For years, the people of Greenland, with a population of about 57,000, have been working toward eventual independence from Denmark.

The Trump administration’s threats to take control of the island one way or the other, possibly even with military force, have angered many in Greenland and Denmark. The incoming government chosen in last month’s election wants to take a slower approach on the question of eventual independence.

Peter Viggo Jakobsen, associate professor at the Danish Defence Academy, said last week that the Trump administration’s aspirations for Greenland could backfire and push the more mild parties closer to Denmark.

He said that “Trump has scared most Greenlanders away from this idea about a close relationship to the United States because they don’t trust him.”

The statement from Ms Frederiksen came as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio “reaffirmed the strong relationship” between the US and Denmark during a meeting with Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen in Brussels, on the sidelines of a NATO summit.