LONDON — Denmark’s new authorities was lower than two months outdated when U.S. President Donald Trump’s marketing campaign to amass Greenland broke into public view in the summertime of 2019.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 submit and all of a sudden tasked with a transcontinental fireplace drill.
Trump’s need for what he on the time referred to as “primarily 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, instructed ABC Information in an interview on Tuesday that the 2019 saga was “a very dangerous scenario for the bilateral relationship.”
Aurora borealis, also called 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 had been very stunned that the primary main feedback he had had been, ‘Why cannot I simply purchase Greenland?'”
Copenhagen, he mentioned, by no means thought-about formulating a value for Greenland’s potential sale.
On the time, although, Danish leaders didn’t consider Trump was “decided” to pressure a U.S. acquisition of the world’s largest island, Kofod mentioned. Fairly, the Danish authorities noticed the proposal as a way to foster extra U.S. engagement in and affect over Greenland.
Practically seven years later, Kofod’s successors — once more below the management of Frederiksen — have confronted a extra protracted and aggressive marketing campaign from Washington. Trump has repeatedly mentioned the U.S. will purchase Greenland — “a technique or one other,” he mentioned 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 amass the minerals-rich island — regardless of Danish and Greenlandic politicians repeatedly rebuffing him.
Trump has advised 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 advised the accord is insufficient and has demanded “possession.”
The problem dominated this week’s World Financial Discussion board in Davos, Switzerland, the place Trump mentioned in a Wednesday tackle that he wouldn’t use army pressure to grab management of the Arctic landmass.
On Wednesday, Trump mentioned throughout the occasion {that a} “framework” of a deal had been reached on Greenland after talks with NATO Secretary-Normal Mark Rutte. Particulars of the purported settlement are but to be revealed.
Frederikson mentioned in a Thursday morning assertion that Copenhagen “can not negotiate on our sovereignty.”
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen mentioned at a Thursday press convention that Nuuk is “prepared to do extra in a NATO body,” but additionally mentioned they’ve some “pink traces” together with territorial integrity, worldwide legislation and sovereignty.
Denmark’s then-International Minister Jeppe Kofod speaks to the press in Brussels, Belgium, on July 18, 2022.
Xinhua Information Company through Getty Pictures
In Davos on Wednesday, Trump mentioned that Greenland’s mineral deposits are “not the rationale we’d like it,” although additionally mentioned the professed deal “places everyone in a very 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 mentioned had been for army workout routines to boost the protection of the area — prompted Trump on the time to threaten new tariffs towards 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 struggle, although Trump mentioned Wednesday that he would drop the tariffs citing the purported deal.
European and allied leaders have mentioned they’re open to deeper and broader cooperation with the U.S. in Greenland, to handle American safety considerations and to develop shared industrial alternatives throughout the mammoth, resources-rich territory.
For Kofod — who mentioned his time in workplace noticed Copenhagen and Washington forge a “path ahead” regardless of tensions over Greenland — any deal needs to be twinned with a European present of pressure.
President Donald Trump, middle, factors his finger as he steps off Air Pressure 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 mentioned. Trump might soften his assaults “if he sees that he may have all of Europe — together with the U.Ok., France, Germany — towards him, and they’re able to defend Greenland,” Kofod mentioned, plus if he sees that European “retaliation is so huge that it’s going to harm the U.S. financial system and pursuits.”
“Trump performs with all of the devices he has. Europe has to be taught to play the facility recreation,” Kofod mentioned, and “transfer him to a narrower path if that is going to cease.”
The Danish and Greenlandic expertise in 2019 bears putting similarities to 2026. Then, as now, Trump set off a diplomatic storm by repeatedly declaring his ambitions to take management of Greenland.
In each cases, 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 mentioned the de-escalation of tensions in 2019 was achieved by means of nearer cooperation and modernization within the safety sphere. “We took the safety considerations of Trump very critically,” he mentioned.
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 mentioned, inspired “constructive engagement” with the U.S. in funding, education schemes, tourism and different areas.
Related measures may assist ease the present spherical of stress within the Excessive North, Kofod mentioned.
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 — will likely be inextricably tied to safety concerns.
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 through Getty Pictures
Local weather change, the next melting of pack ice and the opening of recent sea lanes is making the Arctic extra navigable and — doubtlessly — 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 mentioned. “Any U.S. president will discover Greenland key to defending North America and the USA.”
Trump’s efforts “match his ideology,” Kofod mentioned, saying his bid to amass Greenland regardless of broad opposition aligns with the “Donroe Doctrine” — a play on the 1823 Monroe Doctrine by which the U.S. mentioned it will 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 feel Europe hasn’t taken critically sufficient,” Kofod mentioned. “However now they’re taking it critically.”
Individuals 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 a giant self-inflicted downside,” he mentioned. “However I do not suppose Trump seems on the world like that. He thinks that NATO is there, it is necessary, nevertheless it’s not one thing you can not stay with out, since you simply can kind one other alliance.”
