Hundreds of residents of Nuuk flooded cafes, restaurants and bars across Greenland’s capital on Wednesday this week. They wore hats reading “We are not for sale,” waved signs declaring “We are Greenlanders,” and wrapped themselves in the island’s red and white flag.
Crowded around tables, they watched President Donald Trump’s speech in Davos on giant screens and on their phones. It was one of the defining moments in the history of an island that, until recently, had been little more than a trivia question curiosity. That changed the moment Trump decided he wanted to take it over.
Since a meeting a week earlier in Washington between the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland and Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Nuuk has taken on the atmosphere of a festival. Festival, of course, is a matter of proportion.
Greenland is the largest island in the world, covering 2.1 million square kilometers, about 80 percent of it ice-covered. Its total population, however, is just 57,000 people, roughly the size of the Israeli city of Yavne. About a third live in Nuuk.
On Wednesday, the temperature reached minus 7 Celsius, considered mild and pleasant by Greenlandic standards. Darkness lifted only at 10:30 a.m. and returned by 4 p.m.
“After the kidnapping of Venezuela’s president, we realized Trump was serious and that something could happen here too,” said Nahaya Raben, 32, a special education teacher in Nuuk.
Trump left little room for doubt. Greenland would be his one way or another. He would prefer to buy it, he said, but annexation was also on the table. In other words, the U.S. president openly threatened to seize territory belonging to a NATO member state, part of the military alliance the United States itself leads.
When European countries including France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands sent small symbolic military contingents over the weekend as a warning signal, Trump responded by threatening tariffs of 10 percent starting February 1 and, if there was no agreement, 25 percent starting June 1.
“When that happened, we understood this was no longer a joke,” Raben said. “The whole city went into a state of tension. People are afraid, desperate, sad. They cannot sleep. And those who do fall asleep wake up after a few hours from nightmares about American soldiers taking over the airport, patrolling the streets and raising U.S. flags.”
She said hundreds marched over the weekend toward the American consulate Trump established. Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen joined them.
“It was one good moment of togetherness,” she said. “But then everyone went back home, to their families and their fears. It feels like at any moment someone could break into your house and take it over.”
Just before the conversation ended, Raben let out a small scream of relief. At that exact moment in Davos, Trump announced he did not intend to use force to take Greenland.
On Thursday, after a call with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Trump said the two had reached a “framework for an agreement” on Greenland’s future and walked back his threat to impose tariffs on European countries that opposed him.
Half a billion euros a year
In Copenhagen, the mood is just as grim.
“It is hard to believe this is happening to us. It blows your mind,” said Lars-Christian Brask, deputy chairman of the Danish parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and head of the Nordic Committee that includes Greenland.
“An ally you fought alongside threatens you and extorts you. This is betrayal. You do not do this to friends. The European Union must tell Trump he has crossed every red line.”
Brask said Denmark would be obligated to respond militarily if the United States invaded Greenland, though he doubted it would come to that.
“For years we believed we were operating under international law, mutual trust. Suddenly we are living by jungle rules,” he said.
Brask said many Greenlanders are considering leaving. Denmark provides Greenland with an annual grant of 535 million euros, enabling free public services and unemployment support.
“All of that could disappear,” he said. “No one knows what will happen to citizenship, to passports. This uncertainty fuels anxiety.”
Politically, Greenland is part of Europe. Geographically, it belongs to North America.
During World War II, the United States defended Greenland from the Nazis after Denmark was occupied, used its resources to build aircraft and established air refueling bases and weather stations. After the war, Washington offered Denmark $100 million in gold bars for the island. Denmark refused.
In 1951, the United States formally recognized Greenland as part of the Danish kingdom in exchange for free access to build military bases, mine and drill. In 1953, Greenland was released from colonial status and granted autonomy over domestic affairs, while Denmark retained responsibility for defense and foreign policy.
A year earlier, Denmark had issued a decree it never imagined would be needed, certainly not against the United States. Under it, Denmark is obligated to respond with all its forces to any invasion of its territory, including Greenland.
Beneath the Golden Dome
“We are confused and feel betrayed for two reasons,” said Joachim Olsen, opinion editor at Denmark’s B.T newspaper, a former member of parliament and a silver medalist in shot put at the Athens Olympics.
“The first is that we have always been their allies. We grew up on American culture, American consumption. We all speak English. Many of us studied in the U.S. For years our foreign policy was, ‘If it’s good for America, it’s good for Denmark.’”
Denmark supported U.S. wars and sent troops to Afghanistan and Iraq. Forty-four Danish soldiers were killed, including Greenlanders, the highest casualty rate relative to population size.
“Think about how those families feel now,” Olsen said. “Many people are mourning the relationship with the U.S. and feel it will never return to what it was.”
The second betrayal, he said, is that the Americans already enjoy near-total freedom in Greenland.
“They can build bases, mine wherever they want. The door is open. And yet they insist on breaking in through the window.”
Olsen said Denmark understands U.S. concerns, including Trump’s desire to deploy a future intercontinental missile defense system, the so-called Golden Dome, in Greenland.
“During the Cold War, the Americans had 13 bases and thousands of soldiers here. Today they have one base,” he said. “We understand the Russian threat. We understand Chinese interest. But we are with the Americans. There is not a single convincing excuse for annexation.”
Denmark has invested 7 billion euros in Greenland’s defense, including F-35 jets, warships and drones.
“Trump knows this and still claims we are guarding the island with two dog sleds,” Olsen said. “That is fake news.”
Denmark now spends more of its GDP on defense than the United States does. It met Trump’s demands. And still, he targets Denmark.
“There is no logic. Not even economic logic,” Olsen said. “If he invades, he will still have to fund the subsidies Greenland receives today. Why does he need to raise an American flag there?”
Waiting and praying
Danes have no Nobel Prize to dangle before Trump. Greenlanders have no gold Rolexes to soften tariff threats, as Switzerland reportedly tried.
They can enter a trade war, but they know it would hurt them most. For now, they are holding their breath, waiting for U.S. midterm elections and hoping Congress or the Supreme Court will stop him.
Polls show 86 percent of Greenlanders oppose the U.S. demand. Only 5 percent support it. Another poll shows nearly 60 percent support independence.
In recent elections, a separatist party won a quarter of the vote and became the second-largest party in Greenland’s parliament.
Many Greenlanders feel Denmark only remembered them when its back was against the wall. Too little, too late.
Some even believe Trump inadvertently helped by elevating Greenland’s importance in Danish eyes. Suddenly, Greenlandic politicians are given prestigious posts. Denmark apologizes for decades of forced IUD insertions in Inuit girls and women without consent. Denmark revisits child removal policies.
Into this vacuum stepped Trump’s narcissism.
In January 2025, he sent his son to Greenland aboard a private jet branded “Trump,” accompanied by influencers who handed out hats to homeless people, bribed them with dollars and steak dinners and elicited chants to “buy Greenland.”
In March, Vice President Vance arrived with four armored vehicles, despite Greenland having no intercity roads. Locals ignored him.
Administration officials shared images online of Greenland colored like the U.S. flag. Trump appointed Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry as special envoy for Greenland. Landry tweeted, “Thank you, President Trump. It is an honor to serve voluntarily to make Greenland part of the United States.”
“We feel Trump put a price tag on us,” Raben said. “Like we are merchandise. He did not even bother attending the Washington meeting. We have no trust in him.”
She said younger Greenlanders grew up loving America. “We even called our capital Nuuk York. But now we choose Denmark, NATO and the EU. It is sad we have to choose at all. And we know no one will really fight for Greenland. We are not that important.”