Amid Trump’s threats, Greenland officials hold their ground

WASHINGTON—In a joint news conference on Wednesday, the foreign ministers of Greenland and Denmark indicated they still had a “fundamental disagreement” with the U.S. government.

The news conference followed an hourlong meeting with U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the White House. The discussion was the first face-to-face meeting between the high-level officials and came as President Donald Trump continues to insist the United States needs ownership of Greenland.

“The meeting was frank and constructive,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said, adding that he and Greenland Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt pushed back against White House comments that the U.S. needs total control of Greenland for security purposes.

“We made it very, very clear that this is not in the interest of Greenland,” Rasmussen said.

A handful of Republican congressmen have filed bills that would allow the president to take steps to make Greenland a U.S. territory. But the majority of the caucus in both the House and Senate have issued rare rebukes of the president’s rhetoric. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., called Trump’s suggestion of invading Greenland appalling. In a fiery floor speech, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., complained he was “sick of stupid” and said it was wrong to treat a close ally like an enemy.

The 836,000-square-mile island is mostly a frozen wasteland, but it’s located along strategic, emerging shipping routes. It also sits near the United States and contains oil, gas, and rare earth minerals beneath its tundra. Now it’s caught between NATO and the White House while Trump ramps up his goals of asserting U.S. control.

Trump has floated the idea of simply buying the territory: In 2019, he suggested a real estate deal but did not pursue it further. He has not written off the possibility of claiming the country by force, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt recently said “utilizing the U.S. military is always an option” in pursuing the president’s Greenland goals.

“It’s easier [to make a deal],” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday. “But one way or another, we’re going to have Greenland.”

During a meeting with oil and gas executives at the White House on Friday, Trump explained that he wanted to take proactive steps to acquire Greenland before Russia and China do.

“We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not. Because if we don’t do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland. And we’re not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor,” he told reporters.

But after Wednesday’s meeting, Rasmussen dismissed that notion.

“According to our intelligence, we haven’t had a Chinese warship in Greenland for a decade or so,” Rasmussen said. “There’s not an instant threat from China and Russia.”

“I think it’s very important to say it again—how important it is for us to strengthen our cooperation with the United States,” Motzfeldt added. “But that doesn’t mean that we want to be owned by the United States.”

A history of U.S. interest

Since as early as 1867, American officials have cast an eye on Greenland. Former Secretary of State William H. Seward oversaw the purchase of Alaska from Russia and floated the idea of buying both Greenland and Iceland from Denmark. In 1946, President Harry Truman offered $100 million in gold, but Denmark rejected it.

Greenland is owned by Denmark but operates as a self-governing territory. Danish influence in Greenland has stretched back since 1721, when a Norwegian priest worked to convert the native Inuit to Christianity. His presence began a colonial period and created a political and economic tie to the Danish-Norwegian crown. When Denmark and Norway split in 1814, Denmark kept Greenland as a colony.

In 1916, the United States bought the Danish West Indies (now the U.S. Virgin Islands) while also issuing a statement affirming Denmark’s right to Greenland. After World War II, the United States pushed for Greenland’s autonomy. In 1953, Denmark incorporated the Greenland colony as a territory and granted it two seats in the Danish Parliament. In 1979, Greenland was given home rule, which allowed the island to establish its own parliament. Another 2009 law established a roadmap for independence should the Greenlandic people vote to separate from Denmark. Roughly 50,000 people live in Greenland, and the local government still relies on grants from Denmark to fund defense and law enforcement.

Strategic Arctic landmass

Greenland has long been a key site for U.S. military defenses. The United States formerly ran several military bases along the island’s western coast, although all have now closed except for Pituffik, a U.S. Space Force base that contains roughly 150 military personnel. Lying directly between Russia’s nearest nuclear warheads and the United States, the base monitors incoming aerial objects from Russia.

As it stands, an existing U.S. agreement with Denmark allows the United States to expand or create as many military bases in Greenland as it wants with U.S. congressional approval. But Trump says that total control of the island is essential for national security and would prevent Russian or Chinese missile attacks.

“Rival powers like China and Russia are interested in that trade route, and Greenland, given how close it is to Alaska, is of vital importance for the United States,” Sumantra Maitra, an adviser to the Congressional Greenland Caucus, told me. But he noted that the United States already dominates the Arctic Circle with capabilities Russia does not have. And China is too far away to establish a major presence in the Arctic.

“There are risks when it comes to security, but nothing existential,” Maitra said. “That being said, there are security interests in the long term, and the U.S. needs to have some sort of involvement in the region.”

Greenland’s natural resources might also be of interest to the Trump administration. Its mineral reserves include large shares of gold and copper, along with elements used for superconductor chip production. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, Greenland ranks eighth in the world for rare earth minerals, with reserves of 1.5 million tons. But no companies are currently mining the materials, partially because roughly 80% of the country is encased in ice.

The U.S. Export-Import Bank has already offered to loan an American company $120 million to fund a rare-earth mine in Greenland. In a 2025 interview with the Financial Times, Greenland’s minister of business and mineral resources warned that the country might have to consider investment proposals from China but would prefer partnerships with Western nations.

Alliance on thin ice?

Denmark and the United States are both founding members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, formed in 1949 during the Cold War. That alliance is a military one, requiring members to come to the defense of any one member that is attacked by outside forces.

Danish authorities have said they are happy to open discussions with the United States to build more military bases in Greenland. But they say any military action would trigger NATO protections and lead to the implosion of NATO.

Greenlanders have been clear they aren’t interested in becoming an American colony. During the Renew Europe Global Europe Forum on Tuesday, Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said that the territory would choose Denmark over the United States if given the option.

“One thing must be clear to everyone: Greenland does not want to be owned by the U.S., Greenland does not want to be governed by the U.S., Greenland does not want to be part of the U.S.,” he said. “We choose the Greenland we know today, which is a part of the Kingdom of Denmark.”

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said at the same event that Denmark hopes to avoid conflict but reiterated that borders should not be changed by force. She added that she had been surprised by “unacceptable pressure” from such a close ally as the United States.

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told reporters last Thursday that there are other issues he’d like to see the Trump administration focus on, such as Russian aggression and ongoing deadly protests in Iran. “When we have a discussion with allies, and they’ve made their position very, very clear, as friends, I think it is incumbent on us to honor the wishes of our very, very close allies,” Wicker said.