Denmark’s foreign minister stated that the underlying issue surrounding the United States’ interest in Greenland had not been resolved, even after President Donald Trump announced that military force would not be used to pursue the island’s acquisition. Lars Løkke Rasmussen, speaking to reporters in comments reported by Bloomberg, conveyed that while the clarification on the use of force was welcome in isolation, it did not alter the reality that the American president’s ambition to own Greenland remained intact. He indicated that the continued expression of this objective meant the challenge for Denmark and Greenland still existed, despite the more restrained tone on the means of pursuing it.
Denmark, Greenland US Relations Under Scrutiny After Trump’s Davos Address
Rasmussen’s remarks came in response to President Trump’s latest intervention on Greenland during an address to the World Economic Forum in Davos, where the US leader renewed his long-standing call for the United States to acquire the Arctic island. In that speech, Trump told an audience of global business executives and political leaders that he wanted immediate negotiations to revisit the idea of Greenland’s acquisition, while emphasizing that military force would not be employed to achieve what he described as a strategic objective. He framed the proposal in terms of defense and global security rather than territorial expansion, arguing that ownership, as opposed to leasing or licensing arrangements, was necessary to guarantee effective defense of what he characterized as a vast and insufficiently secured territory. According to his remarks at the World Economic Forum, Trump also referenced historical precedents from the Second World War to underline the United States’ past role in defending Europe, including Denmark, and maintained that a transfer of Greenland to US control would not threaten NATO.
World Economic Forum Davos Remarks Renew Debate on Greenland Sovereignty
Trump further reiterated his view that the United States carries a disproportionate share of NATO’s financial and security responsibilities, linking that argument to his broader case for American control over Greenland. His comments, delivered at the high-profile Davos gathering and cited from the official forum setting, revived international attention on an issue that has periodically surfaced in US-Danish relations. Rasmussen’s response underscored Copenhagen’s position that assurances on the use of force do not address the central concern: the persistence of an ambition that challenges established arrangements governing Greenland, an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. By highlighting that the problem had not gone away, Denmark’s foreign minister signaled that diplomatic sensitivity around Greenland’s status remains, even as rhetoric from Washington is carefully scrutinized across Europe and beyond.