NUUK, Greenland (Diya TV) — Along the snow-packed streets of Greenland’s capital, residents are fielding questions from international reporters about a geopolitical drama they never expected to be part of. At the center of it is President Donald Trump, who has renewed and intensified his demand that the United States take control of Greenland — a stance that Greenlandic and Danish leaders say threatens to upend NATO unity and destabilize transatlantic relations.
Trump has said Greenland is “vital” to U.S. national security and has refused to rule out military action to acquire the mineral-rich Arctic territory, which is a semi-autonomous region within the Kingdom of Denmark, a NATO ally. In a series of posts on Truth Social this week, Trump declared that NATO should “lead the way” in helping the U.S. acquire Greenland and warned that “anything less” than American control would be unacceptable, citing fears of Russian and Chinese encroachment.
Greenlanders, however, say the island is not for sale.
“Greenland does not want to be owned by the USA. Greenland does not want to be governed by the USA,” Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said Tuesday at a news conference in Copenhagen. “If we have to choose between the USA and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark. We choose NATO. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU.”
On the streets of Nuuk, that sentiment is widely shared. “I hope American officials get the message to back off,” said Tuuta Mikaelsen, a 22-year-old student, who noted that Greenlanders benefit from Denmark’s social safety net, including free education and health care.
The rhetoric has alarmed European leaders. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said a closed-door meeting in Washington on Wednesday with Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Greenlandic Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt was “frank but also constructive,” though he described U.S. demands for ownership as “totally unacceptable.” Rasmussen said Denmark and the U.S. agreed to form a high-level working group to explore security cooperation while respecting Danish red lines.
Motzfeldt echoed that position, saying that strengthening cooperation “doesn’t mean we want to be owned by the United States.”
Trump has tied Greenland to his proposed “Golden Dome” missile defense system and dismissed Denmark’s defense of the island, writing that “two dogsleds won’t do it.” The U.S. already operates a military base in Greenland — a Cold War-era installation now overseen by the U.S. Space Force — and Denmark has said it is open to expanded U.S. and NATO military activity on the island.
Many Greenlanders question Trump’s security claims. “The only Chinese I see is when I go to the fast food market,” said Lars Vintner, a local heating engineer who sails and hunts regularly. His friend Hans Nørgaard called Trump’s warnings about Russian and Chinese ships “fantasy” and said he filed a police complaint in Nuuk over what he described as threatening rhetoric from U.S. officials.
Greenland’s strategic value has grown as climate change melts Arctic ice, opening potential shipping routes to Asia and making access to critical minerals easier. Those minerals are essential for electronics and renewable energy technologies, a fact analysts say may be driving Washington’s interest as much as security concerns.
The standoff is reverberating beyond the Arctic. French President Emmanuel Macron warned that undermining the sovereignty of a European ally would have “unprecedented” knock-on effects, while the European Parliament has discussed freezing implementation of a U.S.-EU trade deal in protest. France plans to open a consulate in Greenland next month, signaling deeper European engagement.
In the United States, skepticism is growing. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Wednesday found that just 17% of Americans approve of Trump’s effort to acquire Greenland, while nearly half disapprove and 35% remain unsure.
Some U.S. lawmakers are moving to constrain the administration. Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Lisa Murkowski have introduced bipartisan legislation that would bar the use of Defense or State Department funds to annex Greenland or any NATO member’s territory without consent from that ally or authorization from NATO’s governing council.
Despite the diplomatic pushback, Trump has shown little sign of retreating. Asked about Nielsen’s rejection of U.S. control, the president said, “I don’t know who he is… but that’s going to be a big problem for him.”
As talks continue in Washington and Europe, Greenland’s leaders and residents are making one point clear: cooperation is welcome, ownership is not. The outcome could shape not only the future of the Arctic island, but also the cohesion of NATO itself.
