Danish PM says Nordics united as Trump ratchets up Greenland bid

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Nordic leaders met on the weekend and reiterated they are united on defence issues, Denmark’s Prime Minister has said, as her country reels from U.S. President Donald Trump’s attempts to take over Greenland.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she met regional counterparts on Sunday to discuss defence and security and they all “shared the gravity of the situation”, without mentioning the autonomous Danish territory by name.

Mr. Trump has been talking about a possible deal for years and told reporters on Saturday he believed the U.S. would “get Greenland”, which he has insisted his country needs for “international security”.

The island is strategically located between the U.S. and Europe, as melting ice in the Arctic opens up new shipping routes.

Officials in the territory, which depends heavily on Denmark for subsidies and is believed to hold massive untapped mineral and oil reserves, are pushing for independence while saying they are open to doing business with the U.S..

But they have repeatedly said their land is not for sale.

“The Nordic countries have always stood together,” Mr. Frederiksen wrote on social media on Sunday evening, posting a photograph of her hosting a dinner in her home with the leaders of Finland, Norway and Sweden.

“And faced with the new and more unpredictable reality that lies ahead, close and good alliances and friendships are increasingly important.”

Last week, a day after Mr. Trump was sworn in, Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede insisted Greenlanders “don’t want to be American”.

In mid-January, Mr. Frederiksen reportedly spoke to Mr. Trump by telephone, stressing that it was up to Greenland to determine its own fate.

According to European sources cited by the Financial Times, Danish officials described the conversation as “horrendous”, and that Mr. Trump’s interest in Greenland was “serious, and potentially very dangerous”.

The U.S. President, who has not excluded a possible military intervention to annex the Arctic island, reportedly threatened Denmark with tariffs over the issue.

The United States is the small Scandinavian country’s main export market.