Yesterday, foreign ministers from Denmark and Greenland visited the White House, where they met with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The ministers (Lars Lokke Rasmussen of Denmark and Vivian Motzfeldt of Greenland) were there because of President Donald Trump’s most recent obsession: gaining U.S. control of Greenland.
Greenland is an autonomous territory within Denmark. This CNN story has a helpful rundown of the island’s historic relationship with the U.S.—including past American efforts to gain control. Trump seems to believe that U.S. control of Greenland is essential for national security and that only the U.S. can fend off Russia or China. The island’s location makes it ideal for early missile detection, and it’s also home to significant natural resources. “There’s not a thing that Denmark can do about it if Russia or China wants to occupy Greenland, but there’s everything we can do,” Trump told reporters yesterday. “You found that out last week with Venezuela.”
While Denmark’s and Greenland’s foreign ministers were in Washington, Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen was back home resisting this idea, alongside Greenland’s premier Jens-Frederik Nielsen. Frederiksen leads the Social Democrats and has been Denmark’s prime minister since 2019.
