The prime minister of Denmark questioned the future of her country’s relationship with the U.S. on Thursday, as President Donald Trump teases drastic measures to take over Greenland.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen expressed hope that the two NATO member countries’ decadeslong partnership would continue long into the future. But she said the stability of the alliance has been deeply shaken.
“When you demand to take over a part of the Kingdom of Denmark’s territory, when we are met by pressure and by threats from our closest ally, what are we to believe in about the country that we have admired for so many years?” Frederiksen said Thursday at a press conference in Greenland, alongside Jens-Frederik Nielsen, the semi-autonomous island’s prime minister.
Since his first term, Trump has repeatedly mused about acquiring the territory, home to 56,000 residents but prized by the president for its mineral reserves and strategic position in the Arctic.
But since his November reelection, Trump has become increasingly aggressive in his desire to control the island, declining to rule out the use of force to do so.
“We have to have it,” Trump told radio host Vince Coglianese in an interview last week.
Last Friday, a White House delegation led by Vice President JD Vance and national security adviser Mike Waltz visited a U.S. Space Force base on the island — much to the chagrin of local lawmakers. Only the U.S., Vance claimed, would respect Greenland’s sovereignty and security.
“You cannot annex another country,” Frederiksen countered on Thursday. “Not even with an argument about international security.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Nielsen, Greenland’s newly-elected prime minister, has also rebuffed White House overtures, saying “we do not belong to others.” Just six percent of the island’s residents aspire to join the U.S., according to a January poll.
“This is not only about Greenland or Denmark,” Frederiksen said Thursday. “This is about the world order that we have built together across the Atlantic over the generations.”
