Vance To Meet Danish And Greenlandic Leaders As Locals Reject Trump’s Takeover Push

U.S. Vice President JD Vance is set to meet Danish and Greenlandic leaders in Washington this week as opposition grows in Greenland to President Donald Trump’s stated desire to take control of the Arctic island, with residents and officials reiterating that the territory is not for sale.

Vance will hold talks on Wednesday with Denmark’s foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Greenland’s foreign minister Vivian Motzfeldt to discuss Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark and part of the NATO alliance, according to Associated Press. The meeting comes amid sharp diplomatic unease after Trump said he wants to own Greenland and has not ruled out the use of force.

In Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, the issue has drawn intense international attention. Denmark’s prime minister has warned that the situation could potentially threaten NATO’s cohesion, Associated Press reported.

Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen made his position clear at a press conference in Copenhagen on Tuesday. “If we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark. We choose NATO. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU,” he said.

Local residents have also pushed back strongly against Trump’s claims that Greenland faces growing security threats from Russia and China. Tuuta Mikaelsen, a 22-year-old student in Nuuk, told Associated Press she hoped American officials would understand the message to “back off”.

Trump has argued that controlling Greenland would strengthen U.S. security, citing what he describes as threats from Russian and Chinese ships in the region. However, several Greenlanders questioned that narrative.

“The only Chinese I see is when I go to the fast food market,” said Lars Vintner, a heating engineer, adding that despite frequent sailing and hunting trips, he had never seen Russian or Chinese vessels. His friend Hans Nørgaard agreed, saying “what has come out of the mouth of Donald Trump about all these ships is just fantasy.”

Denmark has said the United States, which already maintains a military presence on the island, is free to expand its bases there. For that reason, Vintner argued that “security is just a cover,” suggesting Trump’s interest lies in Greenland’s natural resources rather than defence.

Nørgaard said he had filed a police complaint in Nuuk over what he described as Trump’s “aggressive” behaviour, claiming American officials were threatening Greenlanders and NATO. “Donald Trump would like to have Greenland, Russian President Vladimir Putin would like Ukraine and Chinese President Xi Jinping would like to have Taiwan,” he said.

Greenland’s strategic importance has increased as climate change melts Arctic ice, opening shorter shipping routes to Asia and making it easier to access untapped deposits of critical minerals used in electronics, Associated Press reported.

For residents such as Mikaelsen, remaining within the Kingdom of Denmark offers concrete benefits. She said Greenlanders receive free health care, education and financial support while studying. “I don’t want the U.S. to take that away from us,” she said.

Ahead of the Washington talks, Greenland’s minister for business and mineral resources Naaja Nathanielsen said it was “unfathomable” that the United States was discussing taking over a fellow NATO ally. She urged the Trump administration to listen to the views of Greenland’s people.

(With inputs from Associated Press)