Denmark’s prime minister has praised Greenlanders for standing firm in the face of President Donald Trump’s efforts to seize the Arctic island, warning that his interest in Greenland is far from over.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen issued the message Wednesday on social media, just days before U.S. Vice President JD Vance and other officials are scheduled to visit an American military base in Greenland’s remote north.
“The attention is overwhelming and the pressure is great,” Frederiksen said. “But it is in times like these that you show what you are made of. You have not been cowed. You have stood up for who you are — and you have shown what you stand for. That has my deepest respect.”
Greenland, an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, is home to roughly 56,000 people who are Danish citizens. Trump’s repeated — and at times aggressive — remarks about acquiring the island, by force if necessary, have raised alarm in Copenhagen, a longstanding U.S. ally.
Frederiksen warned that Trump’s aims had not changed and he remained undeterred. That much was clear from “what he has said publicly several times, most recently again today,” she said, referring to a radio interview Wednesday in which Trump declared the U.S. will “have” Greenland.
She added that Washington would continue to “act based on their own desires,” regardless of Denmark’s objections.
“They [the U.S.] know that Greenland is not for sale,” the Danish leader said. “They know that Greenland does not want to be part of the United States. This has been communicated to them unequivocally both directly and in public.”
The upcoming visit by Vance to Pituffik Space Base replaces an original plan that included a stop in the capital Nuuk and attendance at a dog-sled race by Second Lady Usha Vance.
That trip was scrapped after backlash from Danish and Greenlandic officials, who criticized the timing, coming just after Greenland’s elections and amid coalition talks.
Greenlanders had also planned protests in response to the American delegation, adding to a series of recent demonstrations against Trump’s takeover bid. Frederiksen described the canceled visit as “unacceptable pressure.”
But the prime minister also conceded that the American vice president, who last month blasted Denmark for “not doing its job” on Arctic security, had a point.
“When Vice President Vance, for example, says that neither the United States nor Denmark has done enough for security around Greenland, that is not wrong,” she said. “That is why we have changed our defense policy.”
Earlier this year, Denmark announced plans to invest billions of euros in bolstering its Arctic defenses.
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