Following what Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen called "a number of remarkable comments" from Washington, the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The outcome was a clear impasse. Rasmussen stated there remains a "fundamental disagreement," acknowledging that while President Donald Trump has a "wish of conquering Greenland," the Danish kingdom has a "different position". Greenland's Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt was unequivocal, stating the island seeks cooperation but "doesn't mean we want to be owned by the United States". The only tangible result was an agreement to form a high-level working group to explore solutions, a diplomatic mechanism that underscores the profound gap between the two sides.
The U.S. posture has moved far beyond diplomacy into overt coercion. President Trump has declared that NATO becomes "far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES" and that anything less is "unacceptable". Most alarmingly, his administration has repeatedly refused to rule out the use of military force to achieve this goal. The White House has explicitly stated that "utilizing the U.S. military is always an option," and senior advisor Stephen Miller, when pressed, would not guarantee the U.S. would not fight Denmark over the island. These threats are amplified by the recent U.S. military intervention in Venezuela, which has left many in Greenland "scared to death" of a similar fate.
In the face of U.S. pressure, Europe has rallied behind Copenhagen. The leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and Denmark issued a powerful joint statement affirming that "Greenland belongs to its people" and that only Denmark and Greenland can decide their future. They stressed that Arctic security must be achieved "collectively" by upholding sovereignty and international law. Denmark is simultaneously backing its words with action, immediately boosting its military presence in Greenland with aircraft, vessels, and soldiers, joined by troops from Sweden and Germany. Danish Army Chief Peter Boysen emphasized that maintaining sovereignty requires "boots on the ground," signaling a readiness to defend the territory.
The central voice in this dispute, that of the Greenlandic people is one of overwhelming rejection. Political leaders from across Greenland's spectrum have issued a unified statement: "We don’t want to be Americans, we don’t want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders". Opinion polls show 85% opposition to becoming part of the U.S.. Residents express exhaustion and fear, with one young pottery-maker in Nuuk stating, "We have always lived a quiet and peaceful life here... we just want to be left alone". This sentiment highlights the human cost of the geopolitical storm, where 57,000 people, primarily Indigenous Inuit, find their future and sovereignty treated as a bargaining chip.
Analysts point to three driving forces behind the U.S. campaign. First is Greenland's immense strategic military value. The island is a cornerstone of the GIUK Gap, a critical naval chokepoint, and is deemed essential for the Pentagon's proposed "Golden Dome" missile defense system. While U.S. commanders warn of growing Russian and Chinese cooperation in the Arctic, Danish intelligence officials see no "imminent threat," questioning the urgency of the American claims.
Second are vast untapped resources, including rare earth minerals and uranium deposits, which are becoming more accessible as the ice sheet retreats due to climate change. Finally, the move is seen as an assertion of raw hemispheric dominance, a theme of Trump's "America First" policy. Critics note the profound irony that the U.S. already has full military access to Greenland through a 1951 defense treaty and operates the Pituffik Space Base there, making the push for total ownership seem gratuitous. The ultimate cost may be the NATO alliance itself, as Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that a U.S. attack on Greenland would spell the end of the pact that has underpinned Western security for 77 years.