Greenland’s prime minister announced on Tuesday that his government would stand alongside Denmark rather than the United States, a direct rebuke to President Donald Trump’s efforts to take control of the vast Arctic island ahead of high-stakes discussions with senior White House officials.
“We are currently facing a geopolitical crisis, and if we must choose between the United States and Denmark right now, we choose Denmark,” Greenland’s prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen stated at a joint news conference in Copenhagen with Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen. “We choose NATO. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU.”
The remarks came a day before Denmark’s foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, and Greenland’s foreign minister, Vivian Motzfeldt, are set to meet on Wednesday at the White House with Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The meeting was requested by Danish and Greenlandic officials following Trump’s recent escalation of rhetoric.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that Greenland—a semi-autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark since 1953—is vital, and that the United States must take ownership to prevent Russia or China from gaining a foothold in the Arctic. Over the weekend, he suggested the U.S. would acquire the island “one way or another.”
“If we don’t take Greenland, Russia or China will take Greenland, and I am not going to let that happen,” Trump said on Sunday. Administration officials have confirmed that all options, including military force, remain under consideration.
Greenlandic and Danish leaders made clear on Tuesday they are taking Trump’s threats seriously. “One thing must be clear to everyone,” Nielsen said on Tuesday. “Greenland does not want to be owned by the United States. Greenland does not want to be governed by the United States. Greenland does not want to be part of the United States.”
Frederiksen, standing beside him, stated Denmark was facing “completely unacceptable pressure from our closest ally,” a notable assessment of relations with the United States, which has been Denmark’s most critical security partner for decades. Denmark is a founding NATO member and has fought alongside U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. As part of the Danish realm, Greenland is covered by NATO’s collective defense guarantees, meaning any use of force against it would ripple through the alliance and risk a severe break in transatlantic relations.
“It is not easy to stand up to the United States,” Frederiksen said. “But there are many signs that the most challenging part lies ahead of us.”
When asked on Sunday about the potential consequences of disrupting NATO, Trump suggested the U.S. held the upper hand in the relationship. “They need us more than we need them,” he said.
“Greenland should make the deal because Greenland does not want to see Russia or China take over,” Trump added. “Basically, their defense is two dog sleds. You know that? You know what their defense is? Two dog sleds.”
Greenland’s coalition government issued a statement this week outright rejecting Trump’s remarks. “This is something that the governing coalition in Greenland cannot accept under any circumstances,” the statement said, adding that Greenland’s defense “must therefore be through NATO.”
Nielsen said on Tuesday that Greenland has “huge faith in the NATO alliance and that NATO supports us in this situation.”
Although Greenland has been governed by Denmark for centuries, it established its own Parliament in 1979 and gained self-rule in 2009. While all parties in Greenland’s parliament support eventual independence, Greenland has never scheduled a referendum on independence, primarily due to its ongoing economic dependence on Denmark.
An early poll found that 85% of Greenlanders do not want to become Americans, and 56% would vote for independence.
Naaja Nathanielsen, Greenland’s minister for business and mineral resources, said Tuesday that people in Greenland are “concerned” about the U.S. push to annex the island. “It causes a great deal of worry about the future,” she said at a press conference in London. “People are reporting trouble sleeping. This is really dominating the agenda and household discussions. It’s a massive pressure we are under, and people are feeling its effects.”
“We are an American ally, but we do not see ourselves as becoming Americans,” Nathanielsen added. “We are quite content with being part of the Kingdom of Denmark.”
The White House meeting on Wednesday will be hosted by Vance, who visited Greenland last March, and will also include Rubio. Rasmussen said Denmark and Greenland requested the talks to deescalate the standoff.
“Our reason for seeking the meeting we have now been given was to move this entire discussion into a meeting room where we can look each other in the eye and talk about these matters,” Rasmussen told reporters on Tuesday.
Nathanielsen suggested that Greenland would be willing to discuss with the U.S. increasing American access to the island’s critical minerals, in addition to addressing Trump’s stated national security goal.
Trump’s remarks have also faced pushback from Congress, where several lawmakers have warned that any military action against Greenland would be unconstitutional, noting that only Congress can declare war. A bipartisan group of House members this week introduced legislation aimed at blocking the use of force against NATO allies.
But Trump has shown little sign of backing down. His threats have instead drawn Greenlandic and Danish leaders closer together—and into an unusually public confrontation with the United States.