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United States President Donald Trump is escalating his push to take control of Greenland, declaring the US will take it “one way or another”. The remarks have rattled US allies, as Greenland is a self-governing territory of Denmark, and Denmark is a NATO member.
Speaking aboard Air Force One, Mr Trump framed Greenland as a US strategic necessity, warning Russia or China could move in if Washington does not.
“If we don't take Greenland, Russia or China will take Greenland, and I am not going to let that happen. Yeah, sure. I'd love to make a deal with them, it's easier. But one way or the other, we're going to have Greenland.”
Without explaining what 'one way or another' entails, the US president went further.
“But we need that because if you take a look outside of Greenland right now, there are Russian destroyers, there are Chinese destroyers and bigger, there are Russian submarines all over the place. We're not gonna have Russia or China occupy Greenland, and that's what they're going to do if we don't.”
But Arctic security experts say that description is exaggerated.
Andreas Osthagen, from Norway’s Fridtjof Nansen Institute, says there is no sign of the kind of presence Mr Trump is claiming.
“That statement makes no sense in terms of facts. There are no Russian and Chinese ships all over the place around Greenland. Russia and/or China has no capacity to occupy Greenland or to take control over Greenland. I mean there might be a Russian submarine now and again that sails past Greenland probably, but also that sails past Iceland or the Canadian islands up north as well. So Greenland is not spectacular in any way when it comes to Chinese or Russian shipping.”
So, while Mr Trump argues Greenland is exposed, analysts say the island is already heavily embedded in Western defence architecture.
But the phrase 'one way or another' has Denmark, Greenland and NATO concerned that the U-S could use military force if it deems it necessary.
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederi ksen has said if the US attacks a NATO country, the alliance could fracture.
Greenland’s Prime Minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, says Greenland chooses Denmark, NATO and the EU - and not the US.
“Greenland does not want to be owned by the USA. Greenland does not want to be governed by the USA. Greenland will not be part of the USA. We choose the Greenland we know today, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. Now we are faced with a geopolitical crisis, and 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.”
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has refused to comment directly on the tensions within the alliance.
Instead, he says the bigger issue is NATO’s responsibility to defend the High North and the Arctic.
“My role as Secretary-General, I'm very clear, I never ever comment when there are discussions within the alliance. ... You work behind the scenes. ... I believe there is a bigger issue at stake here, and that is the defence of the High North, the defence for the Arctic area, there you can be sure that we do everything to protect the whole of the alliance. That's my role, to keep one billion people safe. And that is not only the eastern flank and the US and the southern flank, that is also the Arctic area.”
Meanwhile, the foreign ministers of Greenland and Denmark are preparing to meet US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the White House this week.
The meeting will be a critical moment for the Trump administration to clarify what it is actually seeking.
That could mean a deal, a security arrangement, or something closer to political control.
In Greenland, locals are watching closely, with many rejecting the idea of being absorbed into the United States, like Charlotte Heilmann.
“He is unfair to us because I can't imagine living in an American living situation, because I can never imagine living in a place other than where nature is the best of the best in the world. And it's so free and, what can I say, you are not, you are for yourself, we are ourselves here in Greenland, I think, because we can live as we want.”
Behind the politics is the reality that the US already has a major footprint in Greenland.
It operates Pituffik Space Base in north-west Greenland, a key site for missile warning and space surveillance.
It also runs a consulate in Nuuk.
Denmark maintains the Joint Arctic Command, responsible for Arctic surveillance and sovereignty enforcement.
So the central question remains, if the US already has military reach in Greenland, and already works there with Denmark, why escalate into sovereignty demands that risk splitting NATO and the security it has provided since the end of the second World War?
Inside Greenland’s parliament, there is also concern about how decisions are made, and who gets heard.
Opposition M-P Juno Berthelsen, from the Naleraq party, says Greenland would like to see diplomacy prevail.
“The Greenlandic people have their own representatives. We have our politicians who represent the Greenlandic people. So having a meeting, being able to sit down and seek diplomatic solutions is what we've been seeking from the whole beginning. So we're happy that those diplomatic solutions are being sought out. And what comes out of them, we'll see. We've seen a lot of rhetoric from all sides. And what we've been needing for over a year is actual diplomatic talks about the situation, about the relationship between the US and Greenland, about the relationship between Greenland and Denmark and the relationship between the US and Denmark.”
