LONDON — Denmark’s new authorities was lower than two months outdated when U.S. President Donald Trump’s marketing campaign to amass Greenland broke into public view in the summertime of 2019.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 Overseas Minister Jeppe Kofod, who then was in put up and immediately tasked with a transcontinental hearth drill.
Trump’s want 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, advised ABC Information in an interview on Tuesday that the 2019 saga was “a extremely dangerous scenario for the bilateral relationship.”
Aurora borealis, also referred to as 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 shocked that the primary main feedback he had had been, ‘Why cannot I simply purchase Greenland?'”
Copenhagen, he mentioned, by no means thought of formulating a value for Greenland’s potential sale.
On the time, although, Danish leaders didn’t consider Trump was “decided” to power a U.S. acquisition of the world’s largest island, Kofod mentioned. Reasonably, the Danish authorities noticed the proposal as a way to foster extra U.S. engagement in and affect over Greenland.
Almost seven years later, Kofod’s successors — once more underneath 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 prompt that U.S. sovereignty over Greenland is important 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. navy entry to Greenland, however Trump has prompt the accord is insufficient and has demanded “possession.”
The difficulty dominated this week’s World Financial Discussion board in Davos, Switzerland, the place Trump mentioned in a Wednesday handle that he wouldn’t use navy power 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’t 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 in addition mentioned they’ve some “purple strains” together with territorial integrity, worldwide legislation and sovereignty.
Denmark’s then-Overseas Minister Jeppe Kofod speaks to the press in Brussels, Belgium, on July 18, 2022.
Xinhua Information Company through Getty Photographs
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 all people in a extremely good place, particularly because it pertains to safety and to minerals.”
Trump’s professed safety considerations have prompted Danish efforts to extend navy 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 navy workouts to reinforce the protection of the area — prompted Trump on the time to threaten new tariffs towards the American allies beginning on Feb. 1 except the U.S. was in a position to purchase Greenland.
That raised the prospect of a brand new transatlantic commerce warfare, 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 ought to be twinned with a European present of power.
President Donald Trump, middle, factors his finger as he steps off Air Drive 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 could have all of Europe — together with the U.Okay., 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’ll harm the U.S. economic system and pursuits.”
“Trump performs with all of the devices he has. Europe has to be taught to play the facility sport,” Kofod mentioned, and “transfer him to a narrower path if that is going to cease.”
The Danish and Greenlandic expertise in 2019 bears placing similarities to 2026. Then, as now, Trump set off a diplomatic storm by repeatedly declaring his ambitions to take management of Greenland.
In each situations, 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 navy 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 way 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, teaching programs, tourism and different areas.
Comparable measures may assist ease the present spherical of strain within the Excessive North, Kofod mentioned.
However he added that the way forward for the Arctic — which was lengthy thought of an space of scientific work largely freed from geopolitical tensions — will likely be inextricably tied to safety issues.
An indication studying “Greenland will not be on the market” is pictured outdoors of a clothes store in Nuuk, Greenland, on Jan. 19, 2026.
Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP through Getty Photographs
Local weather change, the next melting of pack ice and the opening of latest sea lanes is making the Arctic extra navigable and — probably — 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 true 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 could block European interference within the Western Hemisphere — which has in current 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.”
Folks wave nationwide flags for Greenland Minister for Overseas 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 an enormous self-inflicted drawback,” he mentioned. “However I do not suppose Trump appears on the world like that. He thinks that NATO is there, it is necessary, nevertheless it’s not one thing you can’t dwell with out, since you simply can type one other alliance.”
