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How Greenland feels about Trump, explained by a Greenlander

10 1
25.01.2025
The American flag is seen on an aircraft as Donald Trump Jr. arrives in Nuuk, Greenland, on January 7, 2025. | Emil Stach/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images

Greenland is the world’s largest non-continental island, and it takes up space rent-free in President Donald Trump’s head.

Since 2019, Trump has floated the idea of the US acquiring Greenland, a sovereign Danish territory, in the name of American national security and economic interests. The idea was short-lived when Trump first raised it, but returned with force late last year.

Trump’s proposal took on a more urgent tone when, in a January 7 news conference at Mar-a-Lago, he declined to rule out the idea of using military force to seize control of Greenland.

Even more recently, according to the Financial Times, Trump reportedly spoke with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in a “horrendous” call where he threatened tariffs. “The intent was very clear. They want it. The Danes are now in crisis mode,” one European official told the Financial Times.

The renewed fervor behind Trump’s push to acquire Greenland is driven, at least in part, by its clear geopolitical significance. Greenland rests amid major shipping routes that have become increasingly important as its ice sheet melts and new trade routes emerge, and it sits above major deposits of oil, gas, and rare earth minerals that are essential to everyday technologies.

Greenland is also at the forefront of an ongoing Arctic power struggle as Russia and China increase their trade, mining, and military presence in the region.

Unsurprisingly, leaders in Denmark and Greenland — which has its own parliament and prime minister, separate from Denmark — have pushed back strongly against US expansionism and rejected Trump’s overtures.

“We’re not for sale and we’re not a commodity,” Naaja H. Nathanielsen, Greenland’s minister of Business, Trade, Mineral Resources, Justice, and Gender Equality, told Vox. “We have a great many friends in the US, so we are an American ally. But we are not Americans and do not wish to be Americans. We want to be Greenlanders.”

Nathanielsen spoke with Today, Explained host Noel King about Greenland’s increasing strategic importance, how Greenlanders view Trump’s rhetoric, and what America could actually do to work with the country.

Below is an excerpt of their conversation, edited for length and clarity. There’s much more in the full podcast, so listen to Today, Explained wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and Spotify.

Noel King

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