Denmark’s Prime Minister on Sunday (January 11, 2026) said her country faces a “decisive moment” in its diplomatic battle with the United States over Greenland, after President Donald Trump again suggested using force to seize the Arctic territory.

Ahead of meetings in Washington from Monday (January 12, 2026) on the global scramble for key raw materials, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that “there is a conflict over Greenland”.

“This is a decisive moment” with stakes that go beyond the immediate issue of Greenland’s future, she added in a debate with other Danish political leaders.

Ms. Frederiksen posted on Facebook that “we are ready to defend our values — wherever it is necessary — also in the Arctic. We believe in international law and in peoples’ right to self-determination.”

Germany and Sweden backed Denmark against Mr. Trump’s latest claims to the self-governing Danish territory.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson condemned U.S. “threatening rhetoric” after Mr. Trump repeated that Washington was “going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not”.

“Sweden, the Nordic countries, the Baltic states, and several major European countries stand together with our Danish friends,” he told a defence conference in Salen where the U.S. general in charge of NATO took part.

Mr. Kristersson said a U.S. takeover of mineral-rich Greenland would be “a violation of international law and risks encouraging other countries to act in exactly the same way”.

No ‘immediate threat’

Germany reiterated its support for Denmark and Greenland ahead of the Washington discussions.

Before meeting U.S. counterpart Marco Rubio on Monday (January 12, 2026), German Foreign Minister Johann Wadehpul held talks in Iceland to address the “strategic challenges of the Far North”, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

“Security in the arctic is becoming more and more important” and “is part of our common interest in NATO”, he said at a joint news conference with Icelandic Foreign Minister Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir.

“If the American President is looking at what threats might come from Russian or Chinese ships or submarines in the region, we can of course find answers to that together,” he added.

But “the future of Greenland must be decided by the people of Greenland” and Denmark, he said.

Asked about a possible strengthening of NATO’s commitment in the Arctic, Mr. Wadephul said Germany was “ready to assume greater responsibilities”.

Earlier Sunday (January 11, 2026), German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said: “We are strengthening security in the Arctic together, as NATO allies, and not against one another.”

He was speaking ahead of an international meeting on critical raw materials in Washington.

European nations have scrambled to coordinate a response after the White House said this week that Mr. Trump wanted to buy Greenland and refused to rule out military action.

On Tuesday (January 5, 2026), leaders of seven European countries including France, Britain, Germany and Italy signed a letter saying it is “only” for Denmark and Greenland to decide the territory’s future.

Mr. Trump says controlling the island is crucial for U.S. national security because of the rising Russian and Chinese military activity in the Arctic.

NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Alexus Grynkewich told the Swedish conference that alliance members were discussing Greenland’s status.

While there was “no immediate threat” to NATO territory, the Arctic’s strategic importance was fast growing, the U.S. General added.

Gen. Grynkewich said he would not comment on “the political dimensions of recent rhetoric”, but talks on Greenland were being held at the North Atlantic Council.

“Those dialogues continue in Brussels. They have been healthy dialogues from what I’ve heard,” the General said.

A Danish colony until 1953, Greenland gained home rule 26 years later and is contemplating eventually loosening its ties with Denmark. Polls indicate that Greenland’s population strongly oppose a U.S. takeover.

“I don’t think there’s an immediate threat to NATO territory right now,” Mr. Grynkewich told the conference.

But he said Russian and Chinese vessels had been seen patrolling together on Russia’s northern coast and near Alaska and Canada, working together to get greater access to the Arctic as ice recedes due to global warming.

Published – January 12, 2026 11:23 am IST

Copenhagen:

Denmark’s foreign minister said Tuesday that no country should be able to simply help themselves to another country, following US President Donald Trump’s renewed remarks about taking control of Greenland.

Trump, who took office on Monday, set off alarm bells in early January by refusing to rule out military intervention to bring the Panama Canal and Greenland — which is an autonomous Danish territory — under US control.

“Of course we can’t have a world order where countries, if they’re big enough, no matter what they’re called, can just help themselves to what they want,” Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told reporters Tuesday.

While he didn’t mention Greenland in his inauguration speech on Monday, Trump was asked about it by reporters in the Oval Office afterwards.

“Greenland is a wonderful place, we need it for international security,” Trump responded.

“I’m sure that Denmark will come along — it’s costing them a lot of money to maintain it, to keep it,” he added.

Lokke said he was “satisfied” that Trump had not cited Greenland as a priority in his speech, but added that the “rhetoric” was the same.

“It doesn’t make me call off any crisis, because he said other things about expanding the American territory,” Lokke told Danish media.

Greenlandic Prime Minister Mute Egede has insisted “that Greenland is not for sale” but that the territory was open to doing business with the US.

Among Danes, the omission of Greenland in the inauguration speech led to some relief.

“He didn’t mention Greenland or Denmark in his speech last night, so I think there’s room for diplomacy,” 68-year-old actor Donald Andersen told AFP.

On Monday, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a post to Instagram that Europe would need to “navigate a new reality.”

While noting the Greenlandic people’s right to self-determination, the head of government also stressed the need for Denmark to maintain its alliance with the US — which she described as Denmark’s most important since World War II.

A number of Danish party leaders were called to the prime minister’s office on Tuesday to be briefed on the situation.

“We have to recognise that the next four years will be difficult years,” Pia Olsen Dyhr, leader of the Green Left, told reporters after meeting with Frederiksen.

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