‘We might leave Greenland for somewhere Trump can’t occupy’

The US intervention in Venezuela was a marked escalation in international relations which many believe could set a dangerous precedent. Nowhere is this felt more keenly than in Greenland, a Danish-held territory of 57,000 people which has been in Trump’s crosshairs since his first administration.

The US president’s words, once taken with a pinch of salt by Greenlanders, have been instilled with new gravitas.

Last week the White House called the acquisition of Greenland a “national security priority”, citing Russian and Chinese threats in the Arctic, adding that “utilising the US military is always an option at the commander-in-chief’s disposal”.

Despite a 1951 treaty allowing US military bases on the territory, Trump told The New York Times last week that ownership of Greenland was “psychologically needed for success”.

Then, on Friday, during a meeting with oil executives, Trump said: “We’re doing Greenland the easy way or the hard way.”

Many Greenlanders have been left feeling powerless and frightened. “It’s out of our control. That’s the difficult thing,” said Heilmann.

She said she had been having tough conversations with her two young children, who have seen Trump’s comments on TikTok.

Walking her Finnish Lapphund puppy in the snow in Nuuk, Fiona Ostermann, 20, said that she and her parents, who were born in the capital, were seriously considering leaving for Denmark or Finland.

“Somewhere [Trump] can’t occupy,” she said, because “he talks about buying us and that’s quite scary”.

Battle lines are drawn

At Nuuk City Hall, Avaaraq Olsen, the mayor of the Sermersooq municipality, has had a long and tiring week trying to reassure her constituents — in an area the size of Spain — that they are not about to be invaded.

“Even though it’s hard to imagine it happening, it gives people lots of anxiety,” she said in her office. Many Greenlanders, especially those who live in remote locations, spend a lot of time online, particularly on social media, she said.

“We want to keep this peaceful life we have,” Olsen added. “I think it’s very helpful to hear from other countries that they support Greenland. It gives hope, but also the feeling of not being left alone in all of this madness.”

Last week, Europe’s leaders issued a defiant joint statement, pledging to defend Greenland and saying: “It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”

The Danes will certainly not lose Greenland without a fight. In January last year, Denmark redesigned its coat of arms, making an upright polar bear — a symbol of the territory — bigger. The battle lines were drawn.

Trump’s claim that Greenland is vital for US security is seen by some analysts as a credible argument. Thawing ice has created a geopolitical flashpoint in the northwest passage, a key shipping route with vast mineral reserves.

In recent years, Russia has reopened Soviet bases in the Arctic and built new ones, while China declared itself a “near Arctic state” in 2018. Beijing has established new research bases on the Norwegian territory of Svalbard and in Iceland, thought to be used for surveillance.

Some believe that Trump’s threats to take Greenland by force mean the Danish armed forces, which stepped up military drills here last summer, must respond in a language the US president understands.

Jacob Kaarsbo, a former chief analyst to the Danish Armed Forces, said that America represented “a real threat” and that “the only way that we can stop Trump from taking Greenland is by having a credible deterrent”.

For him, this means stepping up “firepower” as well as increasing the presence of Danish troops in Greenland.

“Just as we have to deter Putin, we have to deter Trump,” Kaarsbo said. “They think alike. That’s the unfortunate reality of what we’re facing.”

On Aalisartut Aqqutaa, a road in Nuuk, the Danish Arctic Command and the US Consulate sit on opposite sides of the street, as if squaring up to each other.

In March last year, Greenland’s largest ever protest took place here, when more than 3,000 Nuuk residents opposed the visit by JD Vance, the US vice-president, to Nuuk. There was at least a sign that America was listening: Vance diverted his trip to the US Pituffik Space Base, a missile detection centre in the northwest, instead of visiting the capital.

Mikkel Runge Olesen, an expert in Danish foreign policy, said that Trump’s comments on the “ownership” of Greenland being “psychologically needed for success” spoke volumes. He added: “How can Denmark compromise on that?”

Greenland’s wealth of mines and mineral riches

Trump’s interest in the territory is not purely military. Greenland has vast reserves of the most sought after natural resources in the world, which are becoming ever easier to mine as the ice cap thaws, triggering a gold rush of explorers eager for mining licences. In a list of more than 30 raw materials deemed “critical” by the EU, Greenland has 25.

These include rare earths such as yttrium, scandium and neodymium — vital in the production of missiles, electric cars, magnets and phone batteries — the market for which is dominated by China. These reserves are largely untapped; there are just two mines operating on the island.

Trump has long held the goal of setting up a rare-earth supply chain independent of China.

One major player is Amaroq, a Greenlandic, Toronto-based mining company which has operated the Nalunaq gold mine, in the south of the country, for ten years. It is already drilling in six areas for nickel, copper, gold and rare-earth minerals — and is set to build another gold mine. By 2027 it expects to become Greenland’s biggest taxpayer.

“Donald Trump really increased a lot of awareness [about] Greenland and rare earths and strategic minerals,” said Eldur Olafsson, the chief executive of Amaroq, speaking on Zoom from his home in Iceland. “We started ten years ago as a $50 million company, raising $7 million. And since then we have raised $250 million.” Much of this, he said, has come from US investors, who, like Trump, want a slice of Greenland. He said the country has “a great opportunity” to develop critical minerals.

He said he believes that a US takeover is “so far away”, but added: “I do believe that US and Denmark, as well as Greenland, can come up with an agreement where security concerns and investment agreement from a US side can be delivered. And then Denmark can continue to invest and strengthen their part by making Greenland independent.”

On Thursday, Critical Metals Corp, a US company, announced it would mine rare earths in Qaqortoq, southern Greenland, and open a small processing plant. It will be operating by May.

Many Inuit residents of Greenland’s remote villages have protested at the development of rare-earth mines. One successful protest in Narsaq in 2021 led to Greenland passing the Uranium Act, banning licences and exploration for the element, which halted a major development in Kvanefjeld, in the south.

The development belonged to the Australian mining company Energy Transition Minerals, which is now suing Greenland and Denmark for compensation to recoup the costs of its exploration. Last week, its chief executive, Daniel Mamadou, said that the Greenlandic government encouraged rare-earth exploration, only then to rescind the contract in 2021 when the law changed.

“We are faced with a situation where we have been told to ‘pack up and go’ — literally — from the minister of mining,” he said. Mamadou fears that mining contracts could be preferentially handed to US companies in the future.

Inuit calls for independence

As well as advocating for environmental protection, the country’s Inuits — who make up about 89 per cent of the total population — also tend to support the idea of independence. Four out of five political parties in the country are pro-independence, and the prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, won the general election last year on a plan for a gradual transition.

But with superpowers circling, many Greenlanders are wary about breaking free of Denmark’s hold. Economically too, many believe it would be difficult. Greenland receives a block grant every year from Denmark of about £500 million to finance healthcare, housing and other public services — a cornerstone of its economy, which otherwise relies largely on fishing and tourism. Mining is still a fledgling sector.

Olesen, the Danish foreign policy expert, said pro-independence sentiment could be helpful to Trump. “If Trump manages to convince the Greenlanders to go for independence and make a deal with the US, there’s nothing Denmark can or indeed should do about it. But as long as the Greenlanders are not willing to be part of the US and are not actively trying to leave the kingdom, then there’s no way Denmark can accept [US ownership].”

One potential route to US ownership, Olesen said, at least in the three-year timescale Trump has said he is aiming for, would be for America to try to influence Greenlandic political elites to hold a referendum on independence. Then, he said, the US “could do all sorts of things trying to influence that election”.

• Vance tells Europe to stop ‘crazy overreactions’ on Greenland

Among the most vocal advocates for Greenlandic independence is Pele Broberg, a fiery personality and leader of the opposition from the centrist Naleraq party. On Friday at Greenland’s parliament building in Nuuk, where he had just attended a crisis meeting called to discuss a response to Trump’s comments, Broberg said: “We’ve been trying to get away from the annexation of Denmark since 1953, so why should we worry about another annexation?”

He resents Greenland being used as a commodity in Denmark and America’s tug of war. “We don’t want to be American. We don’t want to be Danish. We would like independence,” he said. “Greenland is not for sale. We’re working for our independence, not for a different citizenship.”

Fingers pointed at Denmark

Broberg believes that anti-American sentiment in Greenland is being manipulated by Denmark under the pretence of trying to protect and therefore retain it. He said: “Trump … is not my concern. Denmark is trying to entice our youth to be part of the Danish military in Greenland.

“One of the things I’ve advocated for the last eight years or so is that we should have our own civilian-based coast guard, like Iceland. And the US, under the Biden administration, offered us assistance if we wanted to do that.

“The ones resisting are the pro-Denmark parties. Because the second we get rid of the Danish military and have a bigger collaboration with the US, then, all of a sudden, why are we still in the Danish kingdom?”

For Broberg, independence cannot come soon enough, but he does not represent the views of many Greenlanders, who prefer a slower approach.

Olafsson, the Amaroq mining chief executive, believes that the path to independence for Greenland is intrinsically linked to its mining opportunities. “Greenland can become independent if that’s what they choose, but they cannot be just left to do it,” he said. “We have to support them by investment because we all need those minerals for technology, for green energy, for battery technology.”

He added there was “a clear path for Greenland to become independent with the support of Denmark, Iceland and the US”.

Heilmann is in favour of Greenland becoming independent, though she added: “Eventually.” She points to the lack of employment opportunities and weak economy in the country, and said if a referendum were held tomorrow: “I’m sorry, I would vote no.”

For now, only one thing seems certain: Heilmann and her neighbours’ homeland is no longer an oasis of calm.