LONDON — Denmark’s new authorities was lower than two months outdated when U.S. President Donald Trump’s marketing campaign to accumulate Greenland broke into public view in the summertime of 2019.
“We thought it was unprecedented,” recalled former Danish International Minister Jeppe Kofod, who then was in put up and abruptly tasked with a transcontinental hearth drill.
Trump’s want for what he on the time referred to as “basically a big actual property deal” threw a wrench within the works of a deliberate state go to by the president to Denmark. The president finally cancelled the journey, saying Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen had proven “little interest in discussing the acquisition of Greenland.”
Frederiksen on the time rejected Trump’s proposal as “absurd.”
Kofod, who has since left Danish politics, informed ABC Information in an interview on Tuesday that the 2019 saga was “a extremely unhealthy state of affairs for the bilateral relationship.”
Aurora borealis, also referred to as the northern lights, is seen within the sky above Nuuk, Greenland, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026.
Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
“We additionally noticed it as offending an in depth ally,” Kofod recalled. “We have been very shocked that the primary main feedback he had have been, ‘Why cannot I simply purchase Greenland?'”
Copenhagen, he stated, by no means thought-about formulating a value for Greenland’s potential sale.
On the time, although, Danish leaders didn’t imagine Trump was “decided” to drive a U.S. acquisition of the world’s largest island, Kofod stated. Slightly, the Danish authorities noticed the proposal as a way to foster extra U.S. engagement in and affect over Greenland.
Almost seven years later, Kofod’s successors — once more underneath the management of Frederiksen — have confronted a extra protracted and aggressive marketing campaign from Washington. Trump has repeatedly stated the U.S. will purchase Greenland — “a technique or one other,” he stated earlier this month.
Greenland is a self-governing territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. Trump’s second time period has seen the president double down on his ambition to accumulate the minerals-rich island — regardless of Danish and Greenlandic politicians repeatedly rebuffing him.
Trump has urged that U.S. sovereignty over Greenland is critical to make sure American safety and blunt Chinese language and Russian affect within the Arctic area. A 1951 protection settlement already grants the U.S. army entry to Greenland, however Trump has urged the accord is insufficient and has demanded “possession.”
The problem dominated this week’s World Financial Discussion board in Davos, Switzerland, the place Trump stated in a Wednesday handle that he wouldn’t use army drive to grab management of the Arctic landmass.
On Wednesday, Trump stated throughout the occasion {that a} “framework” of a deal had been reached on Greenland after talks with NATO Secretary-Basic Mark Rutte. Particulars of the purported settlement are but to be revealed.
Frederikson stated in a Thursday morning assertion that Copenhagen “can’t negotiate on our sovereignty.”
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen stated at a Thursday press convention that Nuuk is “prepared to do extra in a NATO body,” but additionally stated they’ve some “purple strains” together with territorial integrity, worldwide regulation and sovereignty.
Denmark’s then-International Minister Jeppe Kofod speaks to the press in Brussels, Belgium, on July 18, 2022.
Xinhua Information Company by way of Getty Pictures
In Davos on Wednesday, Trump stated that Greenland’s mineral deposits are “not the rationale we want it,” although additionally stated the professed deal “places everyone in a extremely good place, particularly because it pertains to safety and to minerals.”
Trump’s professed safety considerations have prompted Danish efforts to extend army spending within the Arctic and the deployment of small contingents of NATO troops to Greenland.
However the deployments — which the eight European nations concerned stated have been for army workouts to reinforce the protection of the area — prompted Trump on the time to threaten new tariffs in opposition to the American allies beginning on Feb. 1 until the U.S. was in a position to purchase Greenland.
That raised the prospect of a brand new transatlantic commerce battle, although Trump stated Wednesday that he would drop the tariffs citing the purported deal.
European and allied leaders have stated they’re open to deeper and broader cooperation with the U.S. in Greenland, to handle American safety considerations and to develop shared business alternatives throughout the mammoth, resources-rich territory.
For Kofod — who stated his time in workplace noticed Copenhagen and Washington forge a “path ahead” regardless of tensions over Greenland — any deal ought to be twinned with a European present of drive.
President Donald Trump, heart, factors his finger as he steps off Air Power One after arriving at Zurich Worldwide Airport for the World Financial Discussion board, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Zurich, Switzerland.
Evan Vucci/AP
“Step one is energy,” Kofod stated. Trump could soften his assaults “if he sees that he can have all of Europe — together with the U.Okay., France, Germany — in opposition to him, and they’re able to defend Greenland,” Kofod stated, plus if he sees that European “retaliation is so huge that it’s going to damage the U.S. financial system and pursuits.”
“Trump performs with all of the devices he has. Europe has to study to play the facility recreation,” Kofod stated, and “transfer him to a narrower path if that is going to cease.”
The Danish and Greenlandic expertise in 2019 bears hanging similarities to 2026. Then, as now, Trump set off a diplomatic storm by repeatedly declaring his ambitions to take management of Greenland.
In each situations, Copenhagen and the Greenlandic authorities in its capital Nuuk responded by expressing openness to additional collaboration, stressing the significance of sovereignty and dispatching a high-level delegation for talks in Washington.
The Danish army offshore patrol vessel P572 HDMS Lauge Koch sails close to Nuuk’s outdated harbour, Greenland, January 15, 2026.
Marko Djurica/Reuters
Kofod stated the de-escalation of tensions in 2019 was achieved by nearer cooperation and modernization within the safety sphere. “We took the safety considerations of Trump very critically,” he stated.
The interval spanning Trump’s first time period and that of his successor, President Joe Biden, noticed the U.S. reopen its consulate in Nuuk, modernize the Thule Air Base — since renamed to the Pituffik Area Base — and agree a brand new financial cooperation technique in Greenland.
Copenhagen and Nuuk, Kofod stated, inspired “constructive engagement” with the U.S. in funding, education schemes, tourism and different areas.
Comparable measures would possibly assist ease the present spherical of stress within the Excessive North, Kofod stated.
However he added that the way forward for the Arctic — which was lengthy thought-about an space of scientific work largely freed from geopolitical tensions — might be inextricably tied to safety issues.
An indication studying “Greenland isn’t on the market” is pictured outdoors of a clothes store in Nuuk, Greenland, on Jan. 19, 2026.
Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
Local weather change, the following melting of pack ice and the opening of recent sea lanes is making the Arctic extra navigable and — probably — extra profitable. Russia’s 15,000 miles of Arctic shoreline places Moscow on the forefront within the area, whereas China’s declaration of itself as a “near-Arctic state” signifies Beijing’s long-term curiosity there.
“That is why Trump is correct on the priority about safety in the way forward for the Arctic,” Kofod stated. “Any U.S. president will discover Greenland key to defending North America and the US.”
Trump’s efforts “match his ideology,” Kofod stated, saying his bid to accumulate Greenland regardless of broad opposition aligns with the “Donroe Doctrine” — a play on the 1823 Monroe Doctrine by which the U.S. stated it might block European interference within the Western Hemisphere — which has in latest weeks been professed by members of Trump’s administration and famous by the president himself.
“There’s something to that, that I believe Europe hasn’t taken critically sufficient,” Kofod stated. “However now they’re taking it critically.”
Folks wave nationwide flags for Greenland Minister for International Affairs and Analysis Vivian Motzfeldt as she arrives on the airport in Nuuk, Greenland, Jan. 20, 2026.
Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
The turbulence will undermine European, American and collective NATO safety, Kofod warned.
“For the U.S. it is also an enormous self-inflicted drawback,” he stated. “However I do not suppose Trump appears on the world like that. He thinks that NATO is there, it is essential, nevertheless it’s not one thing you can not dwell with out, since you simply can kind one other alliance.”
