This aerial view shows icebergs floating in the waters beaten down by the sun with buildings in the background off Nuuk, Greenland, on March 11, 2025, on the day of Greenland, the autonomous Danish territory, legislative elections.
Odd Andersen | Afp | Getty Images
Denmark is in “full crisis mode” after U.S. President Donald Trump once again set his sights on Greenland, following the strike on Venezuela.
“We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security and Denmark is not going to be able to do it, I can tell you,” Trump said Sunday on Air Force One, echoing similar remarks made separately to The Atlantic magazine.
His comments come a day after the U.S. conducted a major military operation in Venezuela, capturing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in a surprise intervention that sent shock waves across the globe.
It has raised alarm in Denmark, which is responsible for the defense of Greenland, a self-governing Danish territory.
“I have to say this very directly to the United States: It makes absolutely no sense to talk about the need for the United States to take over Greenland,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Sunday in a Facebook post.
U.S. President Donald Trump, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (L) and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) (C) speak to the media aboard Air Force One enroute to Washington, DC on January 04, 2026.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images News | Getty Images
“The Kingdom of Denmark – and thus Greenland – is part of NATO and is therefore covered by the alliance’s security guarantee. We already have a defense agreement between the Kingdom and the United States today, which gives the United States wide access to Greenland,” Frederiksen said.
“I would therefore strongly urge the United States to stop the threats against a historically close ally and against another country and another people who have said very clearly that they are not for sale,” she added.
Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said on social media that Trump’s remarks were “very rude and disrespectful.”
‘The Greenland risk is underpriced’
Trump has long advocated for control over Greenland, a vast and sparsely populated territory rich in minerals that is strategically situated between Europe and North America.
Opinion polls have previously shown that Greenlanders overwhelmingly oppose U.S. control, while a strong majority support independence from Denmark.
Copenhagen has sought to improve ties with Greenland in recent months, pledging to boost spending for health care and infrastructure investments, while also seeking to defuse tensions with the Trump administration by investing in Arctic defense, including the purchase of 16 additional F-35 fighter jets.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen attends a press conference at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Jan. 28, 2025.
Nadja Wohlleben | Reuters
Mujtaba Rahman, managing director for Europe at political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, said the Danish government is in “full crisis mode” over Trump’s latest comments, citing Frederiksen’s statement over the weekend.
“As I’ve long argued, the Greenland risk is underpriced,” Rahman said Sunday in a LinkedIn post.
“A possible US intervention in Greenland is now the biggest source of risk to the transatlantic alliance and intra-NATO and intra-EU cohesion, arguably far greater than those presented by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” Rahman said.
The U.S. president, who has previously refused to rule out the use of military or economic force to take Greenland, named Louisiana Republican Gov. Jeff Landry as special envoy to Greenland last month.
The appointment was condemned by both Denmark and Greenland. Landry has publicly endorsed Trump’s push to bring Greenland under U.S. control.
Katie Miller, the wife of top White House aide Stephen Miller, posted to X a map of Greenland covered with an American flag with the caption “SOON,” shortly after Maduro was captured on Saturday.
