US talks pose ‘conundrum’ for Greenland, Denmark: Analysts

LONDON — U.S. officers are anticipated to satisfy with Danish and Greenlandic counterparts in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, amid President Donald Trump’s continued expressions of intent to accumulate the semi-autonomous Arctic territory regardless of collective opposition in each Copenhagen and Nuuk. 

Danish Overseas Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and Greenlandic Overseas Minister Vivian Motzfeldt are set to steer the delegation to satisfy with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance. Greenland is a self-governing territory throughout the Kingdom of Denmark.

In Denmark, “that is the massive nationwide information,” Jonas Parello-Plesner, a Danish political analyst and former diplomat, informed ABC Information. “If within the first Trump interval the saying was, ‘You must take him severely, however not actually,’ I feel the saying this time round is, ‘You must each take him severely and actually.'”

Trump first raised the prospect of buying the territory throughout his first time period, when Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen dismissed the concept as “absurd.” Trump’s second time period has seen the president converse extra aggressively in regards to the proposal.

“Even from a yr in the past, I see a fairly stark distinction in each Greenlandic and Danish attitudes that that is really probably actually severe and life altering for the Kingdom of Denmark,” stated Parello-Plesner, who’s now the manager director on the Copenhagen-based nonprofit Alliance of Democracies Basis.

Mikkel Runge Olesen, a senior researcher on the Danish Institute for Worldwide Research, informed ABC Information that the furor is prompting deeper questions amongst Danes and Greenlanders about their long-standing ties to the U.S.

“Is that this who the U.S. is now? A superpower going round, invading its small democratic allies?” he requested. “That is scary to think about.”

“Simply consider what it would do for the American alliance system worldwide,” he added. “What sort of sign it sends — in the event you’re allied with the U.S., it’s possible you’ll be invaded each time it fits the U.S.”

‘You want possession’

Trump has repeatedly instructed that U.S. sovereignty over the world’s largest island is important to make sure American safety and blunt Chinese language and Russian affect within the Arctic area.

As part of the Kingdom of Denmark, Greenland is roofed by NATO’s collective protection clause. Greenland hosts the U.S. Pituffik House Base and round 150 American troops, the U.S. having considerably downgraded its footprint from its excessive level in the course of the Chilly Warfare.

A 1951 protection settlement grants the U.S. army entry to Greenland, and Danish politicians have repeatedly expressed willingness to work with Washington to develop the American and NATO presence there.

Danish officers have additionally sought to go off considerations in regards to the supposed vulnerability of the Arctic. Final yr, Copenhagen introduced a $6.5 billion Arctic protection bundle in response to U.S. criticism that it had didn’t adequately defend Greenland.

However Trump and his administration seem undeterred. “By some means, we will have Greenland,” the president informed reporters aboard Air Pressure One this weekend.

“If we do not take Greenland, Russia or China will and I am not letting that occur,” Trump stated, earlier than deriding Denmark’s army power on the island.

“Mainly, their protection is 2 canine sleds,” Trump stated. “Within the meantime, you’ve Russian destroyers and submarines and China destroyers and submarines all over.”

Requested if there was a deal to be carried out to keep away from additional tensions, Trump stated he would “like to” as a result of “it might be simpler.” 

However when pressed, the president stated, “I may put a variety of troopers there proper now if I would like. However you want greater than that. You want possession.”

Forward of this week’s assembly, Danish and Greenlandic politicians issued statements once more rebuffing any suggestion of a U.S. acquisition of the island, statements which had been backed by different European leaders.

“If america decides to assault one other NATO nation, then the whole lot would cease — that features NATO and due to this fact post-World Warfare II safety,” Frederiksen stated in an announcement.

“Greenland is a part of the Kingdom of Denmark. Greenland is a member of NATO by way of the Commonwealth and due to this fact the protection of Greenland is thru NATO,” the federal government in Nuuk stated in an announcement.

On Wednesday, Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen posted a photograph to social media displaying a message despatched to him by Frederiksen.

“Greenland is not going to be owned by america,” the message — written in Greenlandic — stated. “Greenland doesn’t need to be dominated by america. Greenland doesn’t need to be part of america. We would like Greenland to proceed to operate as a part of the Kingdom.”

The leaders of all 5 political events holding seats in Greenland’s parliament additionally launched a joint assertion. “We don’t need to be Individuals, we don’t need to be Danes, we need to be Greenlanders,” they stated.

Earlier than heading to the U.S. on Tuesday, Rasmussen — the Danish overseas minister — informed reporters in Copenhagen, “Our purpose for looking for the assembly now we have now been given was to maneuver this complete dialogue, which has not develop into much less tense since we final met, into a gathering room the place we are able to look one another within the eye and speak about these items.”

Interesting to ‘the deal-maker’

Olesen, of the Danish Institute for Worldwide Research, stated Trump’s most up-to-date feedback “ought to fear Danish politicians.” His obvious dismissal of Copenhagen’s efforts to bolster its Arctic readiness “implies that both he hasn’t observed” or “he does not care. And both approach, it is fairly dangerous.”

Trump informed The New York Instances he believed U.S. possession of Greenland “is what I really feel is psychologically needed for achievement.” That, too, is “problematic” for Copenhagen, Olesen stated. “How do you cope with that?” he requested.

“That is the conundrum for the Danish and the Greenlandic politicians,” Olesen stated, “making an attempt to not provoke Trump an excessive amount of and making an attempt to provide him one thing.”

“It is going to be troublesome to supply a compromise if all he desires is possession,” he added.

Parello-Plesner, the previous Danish diplomat, stated the experiences of different nations throughout Trump’s second time period might provide fashions.

Trump’s concentrate on Panama and perceived Chinese language overreach produced a proposed deal for a U.S. agency to take management of two ports there owned by a Hong Kong conglomerate. The president described the deal as “reclaiming the Panama Canal.”

José Raúl Mulino, the president of Panama, addressed Trump’s feedback in regards to the Panama Canal in a put up on X final March, saying partially: “President Trump is mendacity once more. The Panama Canal will not be within the means of being recovered, and this was actually not a subject of dialogue in our conversations with Secretary Rubio or anybody else. On behalf of Panama and all Panamanians, I reject this new affront to the reality and to our dignity as a nation.”

In Ukraine, Kyiv alleviated U.S. strain by agreeing to a uncommon earth minerals sharing deal as a part of the U.S.-Ukraine Reconstruction Funding Fund.

“There’s additionally a really pragmatic facet to Trump — the deal maker,” Parello-Plesner stated. “I feel our facet wants to provide him one thing to work with,” he added.

That might imply contemporary commitments on American army deployments in Greenland, a deal associated to the territory’s untapped mineral wealth or a pledge to do extra to dam autocratic states from asserting their Arctic ambitions, Parello-Plesner stated.

It’s unclear what may enchantment to the U.S. facet, he continued. “We have seen for 30 years that the U.S. has simply needed to chop down on the presence up there and solely makes use of it for restricted missile protection functions,” he stated.

Concerning Greenland’s believed mineral wealth, Parello-Plesner stated the U.S. authorities and personal corporations have been largely uninterested given the territory’s inhospitable climate and terrain, extraction challenges and international market forces.

A symbolic win is likely to be sufficient to take the warmth out of Trump’s push, Olesen stated.

“It is going to be fascinating to see how far Danish and Greenlandic politicians really feel they will go as a way to keep away from being humiliated, as a way to keep away from handing over the Greenlandic underground to a bully,” Olesen continued.

“However then once more, the stakes are so excessive, so I would not rule it out, and I would not rule out that if that is one thing that would resolve the disaster.”

Within the meantime, each analysts stated Copenhagen and Nuuk are prone to concentrate on bolstering the picture of home unity, European solidarity, backing from the U.S. Congress and NATO-led Arctic safety.

“The Trump coverage line will not be invulnerable,” Olesen stated, noting pushback from U.S. voters and members of Congress — together with outstanding Republicans.

“In some unspecified time in the future, Trump might resolve that it is not well worth the hassle anymore, and in that case, it might in all probability be clever to supply him some technique to save face and get out of it,” he stated.

However months of forwards and backwards over Greenland have already carried out vital harm to transatlantic sentiment in Denmark, Parello-Plesner stated, in a rustic he stated has lengthy prided itself on broad help for NATO and for shut relations with the U.S. Danish forces, for instance, sustained a comparable per capita casualty price because the U.S. within the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan.

That power of feeling, he stated, “has dropped tremendously.”

ABC Information’ Morgan Winsor and Clark Bentson contributed to this report.