In a statement released Monday, officials in Greenland said they will intensify efforts to make sure the Arctic territory’s defense is handled through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and that they “can in no way accept” President Donald Trump’s plan to take control of the Danish autonomous territory. The rebuke follows weeks of increasingly bellicose rhetoric from Trump, who told reporters that he’d prefer to strike a deal for the island but that ‘We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not.” European leaders are backing Copenhagen and Nuuk, and a senior European Union official warned that any attempt to seize a NATO member’s territory by force would destroy the alliance.
The island’s government said its new push for NATO-based defense was prompted by a joint declaration from France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom affirming that only Greenland and Denmark can decide their future. “All NATO member states, including the United States, have a common interest in the defense of Greenland,” the government said, adding that its goal is to ensure that the territory’s security “must therefore be through NATO.” Copenhagen’s coalition in Nuuk explicitly ruled out Washington’s proposal, saying it “can in no way accept a U.S. takeover of Greenland.”
Another statement released Monday framed the pledge as a response to the solidarity shown by the six NATO governments: “On the basis of the very positive declaration from the six NATO member states regarding Greenland, the Government of Greenland will intensify efforts to ensure that the defense of Greenland is carried out within NATO,” adding that “Greenland will always be part of the Western defense alliance.”
Trump, however, has doubled down on his ambition. He says the United States must own Greenland to prevent Russia or China from doing so. Over the weekend he told reporters that he would be “open to making a deal” with Copenhagen but that if a purchase proves impossible, Washington will do it “the hard way.” Trump framed his insistence as a binary choice: if the United States doesn’t seize the island, Russia or China will. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has confirmed that the administration is exploring “a wide range of options” for acquiring the territory, including using military force.
While the president portrays the island’s acquisition as a national-security imperative, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an American attack on another NATO member would bring the entire alliance to collapse. Even Senator Tim Kaine, a moderate Democrat, said that Republicans and Democrats in Congress would unite to block any move to take Greenland by force. Additionally, it isn’t clear what the practical difference would be between the US taking over Greenland versus its existing treaty with Denmark. The 1951 U.S.-Danish Defense Agreement allows the U.S. “to improve and generally to fit the area for military use” in Greenland and to “construct, install, maintain, and operate facilities and equipment” there without the need for a transfer of ownership.
Greenland, the world’s largest island with just 57,000 people, has been part of the Kingdom of Denmark for centuries. It gained home rule in 1979, and all parties in its parliament favor eventual independence. A U.S. military base at Thule has existed since World War II, and the island’s position between North America and Europe makes it a crucial node in the U.S. ballistic‑missile defense system. Greenland is also rich in rare earth minerals, another reason Washington wants control.
Yet polls indicate that Greenlanders overwhelmingly oppose becoming Americans. “We don’t want to be Americans, we don’t want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders,” Prime Minister Jens‑Frederik Nielsen and leaders of the island’s parties said in a statement. The prime minister wrote on LinkedIn that Greenland is “a democratic society that makes our own decisions” and that the government’s actions are grounded in international law.
Alan Mosley is a historian, jazz musician, policy researcher for the Tenth Amendment Center, and host of It’s Too Late, “The #1 Late Night Show in America (NOT hosted by a Communist)!” New episodes debut every Wednesday night at 9ET across all major platforms; just search “AlanMosleyTV” or “It’s Too Late with Alan Mosley.”
