It’s Beginning to Dawn on Denmark that Trump is Serious about Greenland
Danish leaders grandstand while Greenland’s Prime Minister indicates a meeting with Trump is being set up and Sec. of State Rubio begins discussing Arctic Security Plans with Danish officials.
The saga of President Donald Trump’s quest for a new relationship with Greenland continues.
To recap events since Trump’s win on November 5th, he tasked his pick for Ambassador to Denmark with persuading the Danes to sell The United States the resource-rich Arctic land.
Shortly after that announcement, Greenland suffered a major power outage caused by a downed transmission line. The blackout plunged the region into darkness as temperatures dropped below -27° F (-33°C).
Soon after Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte Egede called for independence from Denmark, marking a significant shift in the rhetoric surrounding the Arctic island’s future.
Trump’s son later made an “unofficial” visit to Greenland. At that time, I speculated that persuading the people of Greenland to become an independent territory of the United States might be the best deal that could be placed on the table.
Egede appeared at a joint press conference alongside Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, during which he said that he’s ready to speak with Trump as ‘the status quo is no longer an option.’
Frederiksen later had a 45-minute call with Trump, asserting that Greenland should determine its independence.
This is where events begin to get interesting: It’s just beginning to dawn on Danish leaders Trump is very serious about partnering with Greenland in a new relationship —one that may not involve Denmark.
This is absolutely tremendous. The government of Denmark took Trump seriously but not literally and assumed that the Greenland thing was a negotiation tactic rather than a very explicit plan. They got burned on the phone. He’s going to get Greenland for us 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/O4x5FcMlx0
— Max Meyer (@mualphaxi) January 24, 2025
The Danish PM was reportedly upset that Trump wasn’t dropping his plans to partner with Greenlanders as part of his strategic Arctic vision. The mainstream press and European elites are playing it up as if Trump’s thuggish approach is damaging our relationship with Denmark.
Donald Trump insisted he was serious in his determination to take over Greenland in a fiery telephone call with Denmark’s prime minister, according to senior European officials.
….Five current and former senior European officials briefed on the call said the conversation had gone very badly.
They added that Trump had been aggressive and confrontational following the Danish prime minister’s comments that the island was not for sale, despite her offer of more co-operation on military bases and mineral exploitation.
“It was horrendous,” said one of the people. Another added: “He was very firm. It was a cold shower. Before, it was hard to take it seriously. But I do think it is serious, and potentially very dangerous.”
A Danish Member of the European Parliament was bold enough to indulge his Trump Derangement Syndrome over the issue.
MEP Anders Vistisen, a member of the right-wing Danish People’s Party, addressed Trump’s efforts at an EU session in Strasburg, France.
“Dear President Trump, listen very carefully: Greenland has been part of the Danish kingdom for 800 years. It is an integrated part of our country. It is not for sale,” Vistisen said.
Appearing to cue into the American president’s occasional salty language, Vistisen said he would put his remarks in “words you might understand.”
WATCH: A Danish MEP just told Donald Trump that Greenland isn't for sale and to "f**k off."
Danish politicians are going to find out the hard way they are no longer dealing with a weak president. pic.twitter.com/P6DZw08qCL
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) January 24, 2025
So, how is all this drama and posturing working out for the Danes?
The day after Trump’s inauguration, Greenland’s Egede indicated his government is working to arrange a meeting with Trump.
Asked if Greenland had conveyed the message that it is not up for grabs directly to Trump, Egede said his government was trying to set up a meeting with the U.S. leader to do just that.
“That’s what we’re working on,” Egede said. “You can’t get around the fact that if they [the U.S.] want to talk about Greenland, they have to talk to Greenland.”
Such a meeting could be held in the next few days, said Greenland’s Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt, who joined Egede at the press conference.
And our new Secretary of State is now in contact with Denmark to open discussions focused on Arctic Security.
Denmark agreed on Friday to discuss the Arctic region with Washington, Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said, after his first phone call with the top diplomat of the administration of President Donald Trump, who wants control of Greenland.
Rasmussen and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a 20-minute conversation in a “good and constructive tone”, discussing Ukraine, European security and the situation in the Middle East, the Danish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The State Department said late on Friday that Rubio had “reaffirmed the strength of the relationship” between the two countries in the call.
Interestingly, Greenland’s plans for independence from Denmark seem a little farther along than the mainstream media or the European elites would have us believe.
A draft constitution for an independent Greenland was presented in April 2023.
Prime Minister Múte Egede has announced plans for a commission to define referendum qualifications.
Parliamentary elections are scheduled for April 2025, with independence being a central issue.— Oliver Schaudt (@oshout) January 25, 2025
Finally, Trump indicates he is going to get a Greenland deal done.
President Donald Trump has said he believes the US will gain control of Greenland, after showing renewed interest in acquiring the autonomous Danish territory in recent weeks.
“I think we’re going to have it,” he told reporters on Air Force One on Saturday, adding that the island’s 56,000 residents “want to be with us”.
Trump says he believes US will 'get Greenland' https://t.co/urv3s2p1VV
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) January 26, 2025
Stay tuned for more developments in Trump’s quest for a new deal with Greenland.
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Comments
“There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune”
This is such a time for Greenland if they are smart enough to take it.
It’s not like we’re likely to get in a bidding war.
What makes you think China won’t enter a bid? China wants two things:
a) Access to strategic minerals.
b) Strategic military installations near the North American continent
Only an idiot would want to join China!
China or Russia could make a bid but I don’t think the Greenlanders are interesting in being Communist subjects. The US is a far better bet. I think at the end of the day Greenland will be independent from Denmark and will have very close ties with the US including more military bases, mining rights etc. which is where Trump was heading all along. Greenland is extraordinarily important long term for the Arctic and North Atlantic shipping lanes not to mention minerals.
This is such a time for Greenland if they are smart enough to take it.
And if they aren’t, what will the US do? Re-hire Victoria Nuland to smarten them up?
Greenland would be insane to agree to this. It will never happen. It’s just like Trump’s promise to “BUILD THE WALL!” and “LOCK HER UP!”. It will never happen.
Please help me out here. I’m an enthusiastic British Trump supporter but I don’t get this effort.
I understand that it would be advantageous to the US. I understand why total US control of Greenland is a way of dealing with a strategic issue.
However I don’t see why that entitles the US to elliptically threaten to attack an ally (Denmark).
I also don’t understand why people keep ignoring Greenland’s Prime Minister, Múte Egede, who very recently stated that Greenland rejected any notion of becoming part of the US.
Perhaps I’m just not being hard-headed enough, but this looks like the sort of behaviour that the US criticises in others.
We should have bought Greenland with the Virgin Islands deal.
Why not offer the Danes the Virgin Islands back and we get Greenland.
I suspect that Trump is trying to arrange a Compact of Free Association with Greenland post-independence….with a side of Trump deciding to trigger the press with his response to a stupid media question.
Read more about a CoFA here: https://legalinsurrection.com/2025/01/denmark-says-greenland-should-determine-its-own-independence-in-call-to-trump/
What is happening with Diego Garcia. Are the Brits still going with that stupid Biden giveback proposal that benefited the ChiComs or have they rethought that one?
I suspect it went something like this:
Trump (2020): we should buy Greenland
Denmark (2020): You are a looser president.
Trump (2024): Ya know I want Greenland. Here is why
Denmark: You are trolling us – like Canada being the 51st state
Trump (on the phone): I want to buy Greenland. Here is the plan – [sets out precise and concrete method of acquiring the real estate]. Let’s get this done tomorrow.
Denmark: woh! You really want to buy in 1 day what we have had for 800 years? This kind of thing takes YEARS to negotiate and figure out. We need to do all these studies and polls and get permission from everyone-
Trump: No you don’t. And we can get it done tomorrow, if you want to.
Denmark: Brute and uncouth American!
I (an American who voted for DJT) support many things that he is doing. It’s unfortunate that so many of his share his delusion that the US can still get its way with the rest of the world by making threats.
Maybe you should’ve voted for Kamala then.
Please explain how, if I had voted for Kamala, that would have changed the fact that the US can longer have its way with the rest of the world by making threats.
Perhaps (as the title of this article suggests) it’s starting to dawn on Denmark that Trump is serious. But it will soon start to dawn on Trump and his amen-chorus that the rest of the world is increasingly able to tell the US to pound sand when we make threats and demands.
Trump isn’t going to send the marines to seize Greenland.
He was the first president in a while to be firmly against military adventurism in his first admin, and he’s run that way still while campaigning for his 2nd. He’s willing to,pull out of NATO, FGS, if they continue to not pay for their own defense like they promised to and haven’t for more than a generation.
However, whatever else he is he’s luvs him a lucrative deal, and can spot one as fast as he can spot a bad one – like us continuing to defend rich NATO countries too cheap to defend themselves.
Greenland is ripe to sever away from Denmark, they are asset rich but monitarily poor, Denmark shows no sign of developing Greenland’s assets, indeed is too deeply “green” to do so at all. We could pay each resident of Greenland a personal fortune for either their sovereignty or just their mineral rights and it would be a bargain of the century. At the least, the recent failure of their electric grid shows Denmark is unwilling or unable to maintain it’s stepchild;s infrastructure enuf to keep them at a 1st world level.
Absolutely correct and thanks for pointing out the problem Denmark has with it’s green energy vs Greenland’s mineral wealth. Denmark was never going to develop Greenland’s potential but the US sure will. A higher standard of living with a country that will actually defend them vs one that totally surrendered to a muslim invasion and gripped by fatal green nonsense is not a hard choice. What does Denmark have to offer? Not much at this point.
Ok that’s simple.
1. Trump isn’t specifically threatening Denmark that I have seen.
2. The USA is returning to a less directly involved posture outside our hemisphere unless it is is an unquestionably direct US Strategic Interest. The corollary is that we are going to be more involved/dominant in our own hemisphere both Greenland and Panama Canal meet the criteria for our hegemony.
MD of the day Greenland already has a measure of autonomy from Denmark and already has the lawful ability to become independent. Once achieved they could be persuaded to join the USA or simply shift to become independent protectorate. See also Canadian Provinces which, due to the Quebec separatist movement demands, also have the right to seek independence from Canada and could then petition to join the USA. Panama is a creation of the US. The canal was built and paid for.by US blood and treasure, should never have been allowed out of direct US control. That can remedied, of necessary the same way we stole Panama in the first place.
The US never threatened Denmark. The US is dealing with Greenland and seems likely to help along an independence for Greenland from Denmark that was just meandering with no real end date. Now Trump and stomped on the gas.
We should have bought Greenland with the Virgin Islands deal.
Why not offer the Danes the Virgin Islands back and we get Greenland.
Trump should recognize Leif Ericson as the first American.
The fact that Greenland has been a colony of Denmark for 800 years is immaterial Most of Europe’s colonies freed themselves from their mother countries and/or exploiters in the 20th century; Greenland is just a little tardy.
And Trump is NOT “threatening” Denmark, despite the squeals of outrage. He has no intention of going to war, militarily or economically with little Denmark, but he will certainly forcefully explain why this deal will benefit everyone, as all good deals do.
Its all about the RNAAOTO; the Really North Atlantic and Artic Ocean Treaty Alliance.
@Morning Sunshine
That sounds very believable. I hope it’s somewhere near the truth.
@EBL Please God, I hope not. It seems to be up in the air at the moment.
However, like Biden, one should never underestimate the Labour Party’s ability to screw things up.
@Dolce Far Niente I do not “know” that he threatened Denmark militarily but it was “reported” that “he refused to rule out military intervention”. On reflection, I shouldn’t trust the media not to twist what he said.
That being said, Breitbart (which is generally very pro Trump, reported “Before his inauguration, Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Denmark and, in response to a question from a journalist, said that he would not rule out military action to seize the island”.
They asked him “will you rule out using economic or military pressure’ and he said no. Now they know he wasn’t saying he was going to send troops to Denmark but they went that way anyway because they are who they are.
A good negotiator doesn’t rule out anything before he really starts the serious stuff. The Art Of The Deal in real time geopolitics is playing out now. Note that Demark asked about military OR economic pressure. America isn’t invading Greenland but the economic pressure on Denmark, whatever that might be, is certainly on the table but if Greenland declares independence and it sure looks like they are finally going to do it, Demark should just breath a sigh of relief and complain at the next Davos meeting what a meanie Trump is.
The most anti-war, anti-interventionist president in a century is going to go to war over Greenland?
Please.
Of course Trump wouldn’t verbally rule out anything in any public conversation with a reporter. Only a fool telegraphs their intentions to their opposition, and admittedly, we’ve had a long line of fools in high levels in our government.
I marvel at how people seems completely unaware of how Trump works after so many years of transparency.
Meh, never say never. It is a negotiation tactic. ‘Oh, Trump is Cray Cray, a loose cannon’. This way the counter party in the negotiation understands that while very unlikely, he just might be capable of using force.
In any event refusing to rule out any options is not at all the same thing as directly threatening their use in a ‘do X or I invade’ statement.
There are some who think Trump is floating Greenland being a possession of the US as a way to get better military bases on the island, but leaving the Danes in possession of the island.
The fly in that ointment is that such arrangements depend on the Danish government never changing and giving the US the boot (see PI for base status issues in the past). The PRC has been working assiduously to buy influence in Denmark. We should not think, for one minute, that it would be impossible to sway the Danish Parliament to the PRC line of thinking and pass a bill to give us the boot, All it would take is a bit of time and enough cash.
We can better defend the US with Greenland than with the Islamic/PRC tilting EU. We can pull back from Europe and leave them to their stupidity once again. No more Uncle Sugar to ingrates.
And if Greenland declares Independence in the mean time? Denmark has nothing to say about it. Is Greenland going to demand the UN force Greenland to remain a colony? Kind of a sticky situation for the leftist Euro nuts.
I would add that “Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow” gives a fictional account of the troubled colonial relations between Denmark and Greenland amidst a very high-quality detective story.
It did not leave me feeling very positive about the Danes treatment of Greenlanders.
@Edward Yup. Geostrategic considerations make this a potentially important issue for all of us.
It would have helped if the US had stuck to its treaty with Denmark about Iceland without covertly initiating Project Iceworm, which contravened said treaty.
A Brit lecturing the USA, a former set of colonial possessions of Britain, which was once one of the greatest colonial, industrial and military powers and who eagerly used that power to create a worldwide Empire (The sun never sets on the British Empire) really? Y’all gonna lecture us about how it is unseemly to use power to achieve National Strategic goals?
In the post to which you are replying, did Clovis say something that isn’t true? And please explain how the British Empire’s actions disqualify Clovis, as an individual, from commenting on this issue.
To be clear the actions of the British Govt with generally speaking the full support of the British electorate in carving out a worldwide Empire from Hong Kong, Malaysia, Canada, the British Raj of India/Pakistan, Rhodesia among other African locations, New Zealand, the entire continent of Australia when their economic, industrial and military power was at its zenith doesn’t preclude any individual British subject from speaking about the issue.
That issue being, in case you forget, the potential of Greenland’s populace holding a plebiscite on independence from the Kingdom of Denmark and then entering into a closer alliance with the USA and potentially becoming a US Territory with an eye towards eventual Statehood or simply gaining independence but remaining a de facto US protectorate.
No indeed the actions of the British in building and the efforts they put into maintaining their far flung Empire to include launching a Naval Task Force to prosecute a war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands within living memory do not in any way restrict his or any other British subjects right to speak up about the foreign policy implications of US Hegemony even when restricted to our own hemisphere.
That British historical record does however make it a bit ironic for the former colonial masters of what is now the USA, until we managed to become ungovernable with two different hot wars, to seek to inform their former colonies about the dangers of perceptions of ‘colonialism’. Fair game to point it out.
Ok, doofus. A little history lesson. The project was a study for the feasibility of installing nuclear missiles under the ice in Greenland but was cancelled in 1966 as being unfeasible. Nothing ever happened except some holes in the ice. There was no treaty to break with Denmark. My step father was actually there working out of Thule at the time with the Air Force.
Um. Doofus here. Yes, I sort of knew that otherwise I wouldn’t have mentioned it.
There was this: Defense of Greenland: Agreement between [the USA and Denmark]
https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/den001.asp
IANAL, but it looks like a treaty to me.
You could argue that the feasibility study didn’t break the terms of the agreement but it has been widely argued that it did.
Sorry, I mispoke. I meant Greenland!
“European officials briefed on the call said the conversation had gone very badly.”
Badly for them. I’m sure The Donald would disagree.
“They added that Trump had been aggressive and confrontational following the Danish prime minister’s comments that the island was not for sale,”
Tell me you’ve never encountered someone from New York City without telling me you’ve never been to New York City. You’ll not find a larger group of brash, rude and confrontational people anywhere. It’s their culture. Stop pretending that Donald Trump is some kind of outlier in this regard. He’s not.
As I’ve said before, Greenland becomes U.S. territory. Trump builds a huge hotel on the coast with a cruise ship port, Greenlanders become stupid rich and we build an Air Force base.
Done and done.
Yeah! We could name it “Thule”!
Having delivered with a semi in the NYC metro for a few decades I can say I’ve had this argument with people for years. Language and gestures that would be gunplay in Texas is just the way they talk. I’m sure Trump was a rude awakening to their Euro Sensibilities and urban method of communication.
Maybe Greenland will be the 51st state.
Its more liability than asset. Denmark would have been mining any minerals if it was economically viable. They could be doing long term leases with global mining companies. The only value is if you really believe that global warming will create new northern passage, then it might have value for shipping.
only if it cleared the EU restrictions on development. Which it wouldn’t. So Denmark lets it sit.
On the other hand possession of Greenland and it’s potential mineral deposits may become very economically viable at a future date when currently more accessible areas are tapped out. Or even held by not just economic rivals/competitors but by military adversaries who refuse US access to more easily mined areas.
Greenland is on its own tectonic micro-plate. It is riddled with earthquake faults. It can’t be assumed it has same geology and minerals as Canada.
Trump has his eyes on Gay North Dakota, too. Alberta is quite willing to succeed and get rich with America if Canada want’s to burn itself to the ground with the green nonsense
@ CommoChief Your reading comprehension seems a little deficient. I did not lecture anyone. I asked some questions, interacted politely (I hope) with respondents and made a comment about Project Iceworm. Doesn’t much look like lecturing to me.
Alrighty then, I apologize that I mistook what I perceived as your passive aggressive phrasing for lecturing cloaked in classic British understatement. FWIW there is a reply button to respond directly to post v creating an entirely new post.
Thank you.
Yes, tone is very hard to get in short written communications.
I have now learnt that the reply button actually does something.
Thank you again.
Greenlanders were surveyed and said they want autonomy, the don’t want to be Americans. Understandable as we have people here already who feel that way. They call themselves ‘progressives’. Mainstream media on both side of the Atlantic immediately get their shorts in a bunch because that is just them. Diplomats on both sides of the Atlantic take to their fainting couches because of their training.
No world leaders take Trump seriously. He’s viewed as a blowhard buffoon.
Really? World leaders may regard how they wish but a-they know who the American President is and b-they know it is a good idea to listen even if the things they hear don’t please them.
They sure act like they take him that way. You speak as if you are in the room with these world leaders. Somehow, a better bet you are somewhere else. It’s the comment of an ACTUAL blowhard.
I can think of one guy in Columbia that takes Trump very seriously.
You mean Columbia University? Like just about every other regular here, you (apparently) don’t know that the name of the country is spelled “Colombia”.
“Like just about every other regular here, you (apparently) don’t know that the name of the country is spelled “Colombia”.”
Your gratuitous insult notwithstanding, speak only for yourself, loonmoth.
“No LI posters take little Johnny seriously. He’s viewed as a blowhard buffoon.”
FIFY, you silly ridiculous dingus.
Denmark isn’t grandstanding.
I do think we should have kept Greenland for ourselves after WW2.
However we didn’t we gave it to Denmark and it is now part of Denmark and the Danes have no obligation to give it away by sale or emancipate it (what Danish law says on the subject is whatever the Danish parliament says it is which is subject to change any time).
I am hoping the Danes sell it to us.
If they do the logical thing to do in the negotiations would be for them to play high stakes to extract the largest price possible.
That said they are under no obligation to do so. It isn’t grandstanding it is either their policy or it is laying out the place negotiations start at and because giving us Greenland is the goal it would make no sense for Denmark to start at the position it is giving up Greenland.
Actually not true. Greenland independence is a thing that is in Greenland’s court and Denmark made it happen. Take a look at it and you will see. Greenland was slowly getting it’s ducks in a row to do just that and then Trump barged in like a bull in a china shop putting the slow roll into hyper speed.
Sorry this is late but whatever the locals actually want Greenland as of right now is property of Denmark, there has been no vote for leaving Denmark and even if there was such a vote Denmark could change Danish law any time to just make the locals wishes irrelevant.
To be clear I hope the Danish government is just starting with a start position of not selling it to increase the agreed upon price.
It is without doubt in our interest to acquire Greenland, I have no idea what the leadership of Denmark thinks the Danish interest is on Greenland. I do know that 55k impoverished Greenlanders have no leverage to force Denmark to agree to emancipation if Denmark doesn’t want it granted.
To place the Greenland population (55k) in perspective Wyoming has over 500k, Vermont has over 200k. Both of those states are routinely listed with the uninhabited states when going over states by population.
The only way Greenland gets free or is sold to the United States with conditions is with the agreement of the Danes.
In the end, Trump can make them rich in Greenland. What has Denmark done except claim ownership. That there is now an actual conversation to address this matter, and others, illustrates how Trump is forcing transformation from the crumbling past.
Appearing to cue into the American president’s occasional salty language, Vistisen said he would put his remarks in “words you might understand.” Ooooh,,what a tough guy eh? I know i speak for tens of millions around the world when i say people shake in their boots and fear for their lives when a limp wristed, pantywaist Dane like this ‘Anders’ character starts talking like a mafia hit man. Real scary stuff.