{"id":38665,"date":"2026-03-12T14:03:30","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T14:03:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/38665\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T14:03:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T14:03:30","slug":"greenlanders-talk-about-trumps-desire-to-own-their-arctic-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/38665\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenlanders talk about Trump’s desire to own their Arctic island"},"content":{"rendered":"

NUUK, Greenland (AP) \u2014 U.S. President Donald Trump has turned the Arctic island of Greenland into a geopolitical hotspot<\/a> with his demands to own it and suggestions that the U.S. could take it by force.<\/p>\n

The island is a semiautonomous region of Denmark, and Denmark\u2019s foreign minister said Wednesday after a meeting at the White House that a \u201c fundamental disagreement<\/a> \u201d remains with Trump over the island.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A woman pushes a stroller with her children in Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)<\/p>\n

A woman pushes a stroller with her children in Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)<\/p>\n

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The crisis is dominating the lives of Greenlanders and \u201cpeople are not sleeping, children are afraid, and it just fills everything these days. And we can\u2019t really understand it,\u201d Naaja Nathanielsen, a Greenlandic minister said at a meeting with lawmakers in Britain\u2019s Parliament this week.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look at what Greenlanders have been saying:<\/p>\n

Trump \u201cundermining\u201d Greenlandic culture<\/p>\n

Trump has dismissed Denmark\u2019s defenses in Greenland, suggesting it\u2019s \u201ctwo dog sleds<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

By saying that, Trump is \u201cundermining us as a people,\u201d Mari Laursen told AP.<\/p>\n

Laursen said she used to work on a fishing trawler but is now studying law. She approached AP to say she thought previous examples of cooperation between Greenlanders and Americans are \u201coften overlooked when Trump talks about dog sleds.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A woman walks on a street past a Greenlandic national flag in Nuuk, Greenland, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo\/Evgeniy Maloletka)<\/p>\n

A woman walks on a street past a Greenlandic national flag in Nuuk, Greenland, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo\/Evgeniy Maloletka)<\/p>\n

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She said during World War II, Greenlandic hunters on their dog sleds worked in conjunction with the U.S. military to detect Nazi German forces on the island.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Arctic climate and environment is so different from maybe what they (Americans) are used to with the warships and helicopters and tanks. A dog sled is more efficient. It can go where no warship and helicopter can go,\u201d Laursen said.<\/p>\n

Greenlanders don\u2019t believe Trump\u2019s claims<\/p>\n

Trump has repeatedly claimed Russian and Chinese ships are swarming the seas around Greenland<\/a>. Plenty of Greenlanders who spoke to AP dismissed that claim.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he (Trump) should mind his own business,\u201d said Lars Vintner, a heating engineer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s he going to do with Greenland? He speaks of Russians and Chinese and everything in Greenlandic waters or in our country. We are only 57,000 people. The only Chinese I see is when I go to the fast food market. And every summer we go sailing and we go hunting and I never saw Russian or Chinese ships here in Greenland,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Fisherman<\/p>\n

Fisherman Gerth Josefsen prepares fishing lines at the harbour of Nuuk, Greenland, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo\/Evgeniy Maloletka)<\/p>\n

Fisherman Gerth Josefsen prepares fishing lines at the harbour of Nuuk, Greenland, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo\/Evgeniy Maloletka)<\/p>\n

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Down at Nuuk\u2019s small harbor, Gerth Josefsen spoke to AP as he attached small fish as bait to his lines. He said, \u201cI don\u2019t see them (the ships)\u201d and said he had only seen \u201ca Russian fishing boat ten years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump is interested in Greenland\u2019s critical minerals<\/p>\n

Maya Martinsen, 21, a shop worker, told AP she doesn\u2019t believe Trump wants Greenland to enhance America\u2019s security.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it\u2019s not national security. I think it\u2019s for the oils and minerals<\/a> that we have that are untouched,\u201d she said, suggesting the Americans are treating her home like a \u201cbusiness trade.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she thought it was good that American, Greenlandic and Danish officials met in the White House Wednesday and said she believes that \u201cthe Danish and Greenlandic people are mostly on the same side,\u201d despite some Greenlanders wanting independence. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is nerve-wrecking, that the Americans aren\u2019t changing their mind,\u201d she said, adding that she welcomed the news that Denmark and its allies would be sending troops to Greenland because \u201cit\u2019s important that the people we work closest with, that they send support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greenlanders get support from Denmark<\/p>\n

Tuuta Mikaelsen, a 22-year-old student, told AP that she hopes the U.S. got the message from Danish and Greenlandic officials to \u201cback off.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she didn\u2019t want to join the United States because in Greenland \u201cthere are laws and stuff, and health insurance .. .we can go to the doctors and nurses … we don\u2019t have to pay anything,\u201d she said adding \u201cI don\u2019t want the U.S. to take that away from us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greenland is at the center of a media storm<\/p>\n

In Greenland\u2019s parliament, Juno Berthelsen, MP for the Naleraq opposition party that campaigns for independence in the Greenlandic parliament told AP that he has done multiple media interviews every day for the last two weeks.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Juno<\/p>\n

Juno Berthelsen, MP for the Naleraq opposition party that campaigns for independence in the Greenlandic parliament poses for photo at his office in Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Evgeniy Maloletka)<\/p>\n

Juno Berthelsen, MP for the Naleraq opposition party that campaigns for independence in the Greenlandic parliament poses for photo at his office in Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Evgeniy Maloletka)<\/p>\n

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When asked by AP what he would say to Trump and Vice President JD Vance if he had the chance, Berthelsen said: <\/p>\n

\u201cI would tell them, of course, that \u2014 as we\u2019ve seen \u2014 a lot of Republicans as well as Democrats are not in favor of having such an aggressive rhetoric and talk about military intervention, invasion. So we would tell them to move beyond that and continue this diplomatic dialogue and making sure that the Greenlandic people are the ones who are at the very center of this conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is our country,\u201d he said. \u201cGreenland belongs to the Greenlandic people.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Kwiyeon Ha and Evgeniy Maloletka contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NUUK, Greenland (AP) \u2014 U.S. President Donald Trump has turned the Arctic island of Greenland into a geopolitical…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38666,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1124,26,5923,184,1162,57,651,22057,22058,1158,1413,22059,7318,3595,1161],"class_list":{"0":"post-38665","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-greenland","8":"tag-associated-press","9":"tag-denmark","10":"tag-denmark-government","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-general-news","13":"tag-greenland","14":"tag-jd-vance","15":"tag-lars-vintner","16":"tag-maya-martinsen","17":"tag-politics","18":"tag-travel","19":"tag-united-kingdom-government","20":"tag-united-states-government","21":"tag-washington-news","22":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116216581740392779","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}