Danish PM Tells Trump to Back Off: Greenland ‘Is Not for Sale’

From Ice Floes to Firestorm

COPENHAGEN—It began, as many modern storms do, with a social-media post. Late Sunday evening, former U.S. president Donald Trump shared a doctored image of Trump Tower rising above Greenland’s colored houses with the caption: “We’ll take good care of it—trust me!” Within minutes, the meme morphed into a diplomatic incident.

‘Stop the Threats’

On Monday morning Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen stepped onto the parliament’s front steps, coat collar turned against the Baltic wind, and delivered a message aimed squarely at Washington.

“Greenland is not a Monopoly square,” she said, voice steady. “It is not for sale, and the era of colonial land-grabs ended a century ago.”

The remark ricocheted across European capitals, where memories of Trump’s 2019 “Greenland purchase” idea still linger. Danish officials privately admit defense phones have been “ringing off the hook” since.

Why Greenland, Why Now?

Three words explain the sudden obsession: geopolitics, climate, minerals.

• As Arctic ice retreats, new shipping lanes are opening—cutting Asia-Europe transit times by up to 40%.
• Greenland holds an estimated 25% of the world’s remaining rare-earth oxides—critical for batteries, wind turbines and fighter-jet avionics.
• The island hosts America’s northernmost missile-warning radar at Thule Air Base, a linchpin of NATO’s Arctic strategy.

“The Arctic is the new Suez,” a senior EU diplomat told this correspondent over coffee in Nyhavn, “and Greenland is the canal.”

Greenlanders React

At the Katuaq cultural center in Nuuk, locals greeted the controversy with a mixture of dark humor and indignation.

“First we were a colony, then a bargaining chip, now a punch line,”

said Aqqaluk Lynge, an Inuit author and former MP, sipping seal-broth soup. Opinion polls show 78% of Greenlanders oppose any form of U.S. takeover, but support for full independence from Denmark is rising—jumping from 38% to 54% in the last year alone.

Washington’s Mixed Signals

While Trump’s camp frames the chatter as “economic opportunity,” Congress is already maneuvering. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) is drafting a bill to expand Arctic infrastructure grants, implicitly tying Greenland closer to U.S. supply chains. Meanwhile, the State Department quietly confirms it has “no plans to purchase territory.” The nuance is lost on social media, where #TakeGreenland trended in three countries Monday night.

What Next?

Greenland’s parliament is expected to pass a symbolic motion asserting its “inalienable right to self-determination” this week. Copenhagen is lobbying fellow EU nations to list Greenland under the bloc’s Strategic Autonomy Plan, guaranteeing investment without strings. And in Brussels, officials whisper of a rare-earth partnership that could undercut Chinese dominance. The ice may be melting, but the standoff is only getting hotter.