French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, January 20, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AP

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.

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.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Washington DC:

Donald Trump’s plan to buyout Greenland has taken a serious turn. Republicans have started gathering support in the House of Representatives to pass a new bill to authorise the US President to enter formal negotiations to purchase Greenland.

The bill titled ‘Make Greenland Great Again Act’ is being circulated to gather co-sponsors for it. As of Monday, the bill already had 10 sponsors. It is being led by Republican congressman Andy Ogles and congresswoman Diana Harshbarger.

This makes it official that Donald Trump, who will become US President next week, is serious about buying Greenland and making its a part of the United States. He had said it on multiple occasions in recent weeks and had even asked his advisers back in 2019 – during his previous term as President – how it can be done.

President-elect Trump has even made it clear that under his presidency, the US will not hesitate the use of the military and economic measures to persuade Denmark and Greenland if a buyout option is declined by either of them.

ALSO READ | How Trump’s Obsession With Greenland Could End: 4 Possible Scenarios

Greenland is a matter of US national security and Washington under the Trump administration will go to any extent on matters of national security, Donald Trump has said.

After the historic win in the November 5 US presidential election, Donald Trump’s Republican Party has a majority in both the House of Representatives as well as the Senate. This makes it simpler for Donald Trump to execute his plans without too many hurdles in the way.

ALSO READ | As Trump Plans Buyout, Question Is – Who Does Greenland Really Belong To?

According to the draft of the ‘Make Greenland Great Again Act’, “Congress hereby authorizes the President, beginning at 12:01 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on January 20, 2025, to seek to enter into negotiations with the Kingdom of Denmark to secure the acquisition of Greenland by the United States.”

It further states that “Not later than 5 calendar days after reaching an agreement with the Kingdom of Denmark relating to the acquisition of Greenland by the United States, the President shall transmit to the appropriate congressional committees the agreement, including all related materials and annexes.”

ALSO READ | Donald Trump Wants To Buy Greenland: How Much Would It Actually Cost?

Should the bill be passed, Donald Trump can officially and legally take action as desired to acquire Greenland as soon as he takes office after his inauguration on January 20.

Greenland is a colony of Denmark. It is a semi-sovereign state and depends on the Kingdom of Denmark for all matters of foreign affairs and security. For centuries now, Denmark controls Greenland even though calls for the largest island’s independence have been around for decades.

Greenland is part of Denmark’s constitution and Copenhagen will have to amend its constitution in order to give Greenland its full sovereignty and freedom. Amid Donald Trump’s threat to buy out Greenland, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mute Egede has appealed for a push for the island’s full independence. He has also said that Greenland is not for sale and that the ultimate decision of its future will be have to be taken by the residents of Greenland.
 

Copenhagen:

Greenland is not for sale, its elected leader said on Monday, responding to comments made by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump regarding the “ownership and control” of the vast Arctic island that has been part of Denmark for over 600 years.

“Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom,” the island’s Prime Minister Mute Egede said in a written comment.

Trump on Sunday announced that he had picked Ken Howery, a former envoy to Sweden, as his ambassador to Copenhagen, and commented on the status of Greenland, a semi-autonomous part of Denmark and host to a large U.S. Air Force base.

“For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Donald Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, did not elaborate on the statement.

Denmark’s foreign ministry and the prime minister’s office were not immediately available for comment.

The Danish government must state in clear terms that control over Greenland is not up for discussion or negotiation, member of parliament Rasmus Jarlov of the opposition Conservative Party said on social media platform X.

“To the extent that U.S. activities aim to take control of Danish territory, it must be prohibited and countered. Then they can’t be there at all,” said Jarlov, who heads parliament’s defence committee.

The island, whose capital Nuuk is closer to New York than the Danish capital Copenhagen, boasts mineral, oil and natural gas wealth. But development has been slow, leaving its economy reliant on fishing and annual subsidies from Denmark.

With its Pituffik air base, Greenland is strategically important for the U.S. military and its ballistic missile early-warning system, since the shortest route from Europe to North America runs via the island.

During his previous term in office, Trump in 2019 expressed interest in buying Greenland, but the proposal was promptly rejected by Denmark as well as by the island’s own authorities before any formal discussions could take place.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen at the time labelled Trump’s offer as “absurd”, leading him to term her dismissal of the idea as “nasty” and to subsequently cancel a visit to Copenhagen.

Mette Frederiksen remains in her role of Danish prime minister.

Since 2009 Greenland has held the right to declare independence from Denmark. The island of some 56,000 inhabitants, which relies on significant budget transfers from Copenhagen each year, has so far refrained from doing so.

Separately on Sunday, Trump threatened to reassert U.S. control over the Panama Canal, accusing Panama of charging excessive rates to use the Central American passage and drawing a sharp rebuke from Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)