What the Press in Denmark and Greenland are Saying About Trump’s Expansionist Views
Politiken, Philip Ytournel, 2019
On the first of January, in his traditional New Year’s address, King Frederik X of Denmark spoke at length about the Russian threat. However, he also turned his attention toward the North, acknowledging the “turbulent times” and praising the “strength and pride” of the Greenlandic people.
While the King stopped short of naming the 47th President of the United States, the month before the Danish Defence Intelligence Service (FE) was far less subtle. In its latest annual report, published on Dec. 9, 2025, the agency officially reclassified the United States, welcoming it into the exclusive circle of “threats and challenges” alongside China and Russia. According to Politiken, a Danish left leaning newspaper, the report cited the use of “its economic and technological strength as a means of power, even against allies and partners.”
One major point of tension that escalated throughout 2025 is Greenland — a territory that Donald Trump and his advisor, Stephen Miller, view less as an allied land and more as a ‘strategic necessity’ for U.S. ownership.
By early 2025, the Danish press corps had moved past polite disbelief. Reacting to Washington’s declarations, one outlet observed that being threatened with sanctions by one’s oldest ally felt like a “dagger in the back”. Meanwhile, Jyllands-Posten described the U.S. administration as a ‘pyromaniac’ at the gates, noting the irony of a president who campaigned on ending wars while remaining remarkably eager to start a territorial dispute with a NATO ally. For those Greenlanders tempted by the siren song of American “freedom,” the Danish press offered a polite suggestion: to go look at the Inuit communities of Alaska to see the American version of social progress.
This ideological clash soon transitioned into a battle over facts. Last year, Vice President J.D. Vance lamented a ‘security vacuum’ in the Arctic — a critique that Danish outlets like DR and Berlingske were quick to dismantle at the time, and one that Politiken continues to fact-check today as the claim persists.
These outlets argued that if a vacuum exists in Greenland, the Americans are largely responsible for creating it. Since the 1940s, the U.S. has shuttered sixteen of its seventeen bases, leaving only the 200 souls at Pituffik Space Base to guard the ice.
Abandoned Bluie East Two American air base, Quartz
Throughout 2025, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland’s Premier Jens-Frederik Nielsen, freshly elected in March 2025, attempted to treat the American claims with tact. However, by Dec. 22 the noise from Washington had grown so deafening that the two leaders were forced into an unprecedented joint press conference. There, they found themselves in the position of having to explain the basics of international law to the White House via TV2. Their message was as simple as it was firm: “Greenland belongs to Greenlanders,” and international law generally frowns upon annexing territories simply because a neighbor claims a “national security” interest — an argument that Donald Trump recently dismissed altogether.
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In Nuuk, as reported by Sermitsiaq, a Greenland newspaper, the Naleraq party — the most prominent political voice for Greenland’s independence — urged the Greenlandic governement to entertain a direct dialogue with Trump’s envoys and to bypass Copenhagen entirely. Yet, as a Politiken investigation revealed on Nov. 22, 2025, Greenlandic Premier Nielsen has remained a stubborn partner. He has firmly refused every American attempt to hold a conversation that didn’t include a seat for Copenhagen.
A less-publicized side effect of the American interest in Greenland has been a sudden rush of foreign investors — primarily from the United States — looking to acquire land, as reported by The Local. In response, Greenland’s Parliament (Inatsisartut) adopted a new property law on Nov. 13, 2025, which takes full effect this January. The law ensures that “usage rights” for state-owned land are reserved exclusively for Danish, Faroese, and Greenlandic citizens. All others must live and pay taxes in the territory for two years before being considered for usage rights.
The temperature reached a boiling point this week. Fresh from the ousting of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, American ownership of Greenland returned on social media. Katie Miller, wife of Stephen Miller, posted an image of Greenland wrapped in the U.S. flag with the not exactly subtle caption: “SOON.” When pressed by reporters, the White House confirmed that the President Donald Trump was weighing a “range of options” to acquire the territory, including the use of the military.
The response from Copenhagen was uncharacteristically severe. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, speaking to TV2 on Monday, felt the need to remind again Washington of the fine print in the North Atlantic Treaty. “If the United States chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops,” she observed. Striking Greenland would shred the security framework that has held since 1945.
“Jeg vil gøre klart, at hvis USA vælger at angribe et andet NATO-land militært, så hører alting op — inklusive NATO og dermed den sikkerhed, som er blevet tilvejebragt siden afslutningen af Anden Verdenskrig”, sagde Mette Frederiksen mandag til TV 2.
To ensure that this was not dismissed as mere rhetoric, the Danish Defence Command and the Ministry of Defence recently confirmed a rather pointed legal reality: a Danish 1952 military ordinance remains very much in play. This standing order is clear: should a foreign power attempt to seize government buildings in Nuuk, Danish soldiers are legally required to open fire immediately, without waiting for a signal from Copenhagen.
Extract of Danish Military Manual, 2020 Edition, page 37: “In a Danish context, the consent of Parliament is generally not required in a situation demanding the use of military force in self-defence against an armed attack on the territory of Denmark or on Danish military units, see Section 2.1 above. In such cases, the forces attacked must engage in combat without delay and without awaiting or requesting an order, even if the commanders in question have no knowledge of a declaration or state of war. This follows the Danish Royal Decree concerning Rules of Engagement.”
Beyond the legal friction lies a deeper collision of political cultures. Jyllands-Posten describes a disconnect between Washington’s “real-time” impulsiveness and the North’s institutional caution; a gap that has left the public in a state of “ro og latent uro” which literally means outward calm and latent unrest.
As the population wonders if their daily lives are about to be interrupted by their neighbor, the European Union has begun to stir. Brussels is moving beyond “deep concern,” with foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas reportedly eyeing Article 42.7 of the E.U. Treaty, the mutual defense clause last used after the 2015 Paris attacks.
Even the Americans residents of Denmark are finding the rhetoric difficult to swallow. According to The Local, the expat community is largely “angry and embarrassed,” viewing the annexation threats as a “clear and present danger” to the very global security the U.S. once guaranteed. While a vocal minority support the move to “strengthen the US hold in the Northern hemisphere,” most see the idea of a forced benefit for Greenland as a relic of a bygone era.