Denmark backs US investment in Greenland while refusing sale

Sanne Wass, Christian Wienberg and Sara Sjolin, Bloomberg News on Jan 7, 2025

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Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen rebuffed President-elect Donald Trump’s wish to buy Greenland but welcomed U.S. investment in the self-ruling territory.

The U.S. is “absolutely our closest ally” and Denmark is open to more collaboration in the North Atlantic region, Frederiksen told local broadcasters on Tuesday. “We have a clear interest that it’s the U.S. that plays a large role in that region, and not, for example, Russia,” she said.

Greenland has become a point of tension between the U.S. and Denmark after Trump last month suggested he still wants to buy the territory, stressing that U.S. ownership and control of the island is an “absolute necessity” for national security.

It’s a repeat of an idea flouted by Trump in 2019 during his first term as president, which Frederiksen at the time called “absurd.” Bar a short statement on Dec. 23 from her office, Frederiksen had so far refrained from commenting on Trump’s new push.

Greenland, located strategically between the Arctic and the North Atlantic, is becoming increasingly important geopolitically for the U.S. It is home to a U.S. base that’s used to detect missile threats and monitoring space, and the island’s vast stores of critical minerals have drawn interest from global powers including the U.S., Russia and China.

Frederiksen’s comments came as Donald Trump Jr. arrived in Greenland on Tuesday. Before the trip, he rejected speculation he was heading there to buy the island, saying the visit was private and that no official meetings had been scheduled.

But comments from his father suggest otherwise.

“Don Jr. and my Reps landing in Greenland. The reception has been great,” Trump said in a post on his nascent social media platform Truth Social on Tuesday, adding that “they, and the Free World, need safety, security, strength, and PEACE! This is a deal that must happen. MAGA. MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN!”

Greenlandic Premier Múte B. Egede, who is pushing ahead for independence for the island of 57,000 people, has also made it clear that Greenland is not for sale, but that it’s open for deals.

“Greenland belongs to the people of Greenland. Our future and fight for independence is our business,” he said in a post on Facebook on Tuesday.

During his New Year speech on the first day of 2025, Egede had expressed a need for Greenland to collaborate with neighboring states, saying “our cooperation with other countries, and our trade relations, cannot only continue to happen via Denmark.”

In 2023, Greenland’s government unveiled a draft constitution for an independent nation. It has since published a foreign, security and defense policy blueprint expressing a desire to forge closer links with North America.

Denmark’s prime minister would not comment on whether she supported independence for Greenland, but said it “it’s understandable and legitimate that people want to move in that direction.”

“The future of Greenland must be decided in Greenland and in no other places,” Frederiksen said.