Greenland’s prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen has said his country’s membership of the kingdom of Denmark and Nato remain a “fundamental and firm line”, ahead of talks on Wednesday in Washington.
His statement came hours after US president Donald Trump made his third public play for the arctic island on Sunday, telling US reporters he would take it “one way or the other” and mocking its defences as “two dog sleds”.
Mr Trump’s renewed interest has alarmed Greenlanders and Danes alike, given a forced takeover would trigger a military conflict between two Nato members.
Mr Nielsen said the growing attention for his country reflected its growing strategic importance, but warned: “We are a democratic society that makes our own decisions. And our actions are based on international law.”
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In a separate statement, Greenland’s government said it “cannot under any circumstances accept” Mr Trump’s demands.
Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers, Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Vivian Motzfeldt, met in Copenhagen on Monday ahead of their Washington meeting on Wednesday with US secretary of state Marco Rubio.
On Sunday, Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen conceded her country faces a “decisive moment” to resolve a “conflict over Greenland”.
The Danish kingdom was “ready to defend our values – wherever it is necessary – also in the Arctic”, she added in Facebook.
The kingdom of Denmark has controlled Greenland for three centuries. It was a colony until 1953, achieved home rule 26 years later and is now largely self-governing.
Meanwhile, Nato secretary general Mark Rutte, without commenting directly on Mr Trump’s promises to take the island by force if necessary, welcomed discussions by some alliance members – including the UK and Germany – to boost Nato presence in Greenland.
“We are working now together to see how we can basically [come] together as an alliance,” he said, “including our seven members, allies bordering on the high north, on the Arctic, to work together to indeed build that next step, which is crucial.”
He was responding to unsubstantiated US claims of Russian and Chinese boats operating in Greenland, and proposals by Denmark’s European Nato allies to step up their security presence in the region.
Belgian defence minister Theo Francken said Nato members should “collaborate, work together and show strength and unity” to address US security concerns.
Mr Francken told Reuters a model for an Arctic Sentry already existed in Nato Baltic Sentry and Eastern Sentry operations, in which alliance members provide drones, sensors and other technology to monitor land and sea.
German foreign minister Johann Wadephul held talks in Iceland to address the “strategic challenges of the Far North”.
“Security in the Arctic is becoming more and more important [and] is part of our common interest in Nato,” he said at a press conference with his Icelandic colleague Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir.
Meanwhile, Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson has condemned “threatening rhetoric” from Mr Trump, saying a forced US takeover of Greenland would be “a violation of international law and risks encouraging other countries to act in exactly the same way”.
A group of US senators, including Alaska’s Republican senator Lisa Murkowski, will visit Copenhagen soon to meet politicians from the Danish parliament’s Greenland committee.
Ahead of mid-term elections in November, and growing global unrest from Venezuela to Iran, Ms Murkowski wrote on X: “We have a lot to do in 2026. Taking Greenland shouldn’t be on that list.”
Aaja Chemnitz, a Greenlandic politician in the Danish Folketing parliament, described that meeting as “really good news”.
“We have seen a lot of untruths flying around in the air around Greenland and I think it is absolutely crucial that we get some truths on the table,” she told Danish broadcaster DR.
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