[🇺🇸] Greenland Annexation.

[Saif]

Date of Event: Jan 6, 2026

Source: https://en.prothomalo.com/international/europe/4uwcvakspx

Greenland says 'no more fantasies about annexation' after Trump remarks
Reuters Copenhagen
Published: 05 Jan 2026, 21: 11

An aerial view shows a fjord in western Greenland, 16 September 2025.

Greenland’s leader declared “enough is enough,” and Denmark’s allies in Europe affirmed that the Arctic island’s future must be determined by its people, rebuffing renewed remarks by US President Donald Trump about acquiring the vast territory.

A US military operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and Trump’s intention to oversee governance of the oil-rich Latin American country, have rekindled concerns in Denmark that Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, might face a similar scenario.

“Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark must determine the future of Greenland and nobody else,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters. Starmer has sought to stay on good terms with Trump and adopted a less publicly critical approach than most other European leaders.


Trump has repeatedly said he wants to take over Greenland, an ambition first voiced in 2019 during his first presidency. On Sunday, he told The Atlantic magazine in an interview: “We do need Greenland, absolutely. We need it for defence.”

Trump renews Greenland ambition

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One early on Monday, Trump said he would revisit the topic in a few weeks.

“Threats, pressure, and talk of annexation have no place between friends,” Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said on Facebook late on Sunday. “Enough is enough. (...) No more fantasies about annexation.”

On 21 December, Trump appointed Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry as special envoy to Greenland. Landry has publicly expressed support for incorporating Greenland into the United States.

Greenland’s strategic location between Europe and North America makes it a critical site for the U.S. ballistic missile defence system. The island’s significant mineral resources also align with Washington’s ambition to reduce dependence on Chinese exports.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Monday that Greenland belongs to Denmark and suggested NATO could discuss strengthening its protection if necessary.

France also expressed solidarity, saying Greenland belonged to the people of Greenland, while a European Commission spokesperson said that the EU will continue to uphold the principle of national sovereignty.

Support for Denmark and Greenland also came swiftly from all Nordic and Baltic leaders. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Sunday that U.S. comments about needing to take over Greenland made “absolutely no sense”.​

 

[Saif]

Trump weighs military option to acquire Greenland

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that "acquiring Greenland is a national security priority" for Trump to deter US adversaries like Russia and China.

en.prothomalo.com

Trump weighs military option to acquire Greenland
AFP Washington, United States
Published: 07 Jan 2026, 09: 39

US president Donald Trump File photo

US President Donald Trump is discussing options including military action to take control of Greenland, the White House said Tuesday, upping tensions that Denmark warns could destroy the NATO alliance.

Trump has stepped up his designs on the mineral-rich, self-governing Danish territory in the arctic since the US military operation to seize Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro last weekend.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that "acquiring Greenland is a national security priority" for Trump to deter US adversaries like Russia and China.

"The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the US military is always an option at the commander in chief's disposal," she said in a statement to AFP.


The Wall Street Journal reported US secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers that Trump's preferred option is to buy Greenland from Denmark, adding that the threats did not signal an imminent invasion.

Denmark has warned that any move to take Greenland by force would mean that "everything would stop" including NATO and 80 years of close transatlantic security links.

Any US military action against Greenland would effectively collapse NATO, since the alliance's Article Five pledges that member states will defend any of their number that come under attack.

Greenland and Denmark said earlier that they had asked to meet Rubio quickly as tensions rose over the issue.

"It has so far not been possible," Greenland's Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt wrote on social media, adding that they had been pushing for a meeting throughout 2025.

Denmark's Foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said meeting Rubio should "clear up certain misunderstandings."

Greenland prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen earlier insisted that the island was not for sale, and that only its 57,000 people should decide its future.

'Not acceptable'

Allies have rallied around Denmark and Greenland -- while trying not to antagonise Trump at the same time.

The leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain joined Denmark in a statement on Tuesday saying that they would defend the "universal principles" of "sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders."

French president Emmanuel Macron and British prime minister Keir Starmer both sought to play down the row as they attended Ukraine peace talks in Paris alongside Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner.

"I cannot imagine a scenario in which the United States of America would be placed in a position to violate Danish sovereignty," Macron said.

Canadian prime minister Mark Carney, whose country Trump earlier this year said should become the 51st state, also weighed in.

"The future of Greenland and Denmark are decided solely by the people of Denmark and Greenland," Carney told reporters in Paris.

The United States already has a military base in Greenland, the Pituffik space base, with around 150 personnel stationed there.

Greenland residents have also rejected Trump's threats.

"This is not something we appreciate," Christian Keldsen, director of the Greenland Business Assocation, told AFP in the capital Nuuk. "It is not acceptable in the civilised world."

Trump's deputy chief of Staff Stephen Miller told CNN on Monday that "nobody's going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland!"

Copenhagen has however invested heavily in security, allocating some 90 billion kroner ($14 billion) in the last year.

Trump has been floating the idea of annexing Greenland since his first term.

"It's like a broken record," Marc Jacobsen, a specialist in security, politics and diplomacy in the Arctic at the Royal Danish Defence College, told AFP.​