Naaja Nathanielsen, Greenland’s minister for trade, uncooked supplies, mining, vitality, regulation enforcement and equality, addresses MPs at a gathering within the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) room, within the Homes of Parliament, Westminster, organised by the APPG for Greenland following US threats to take over the territory.
James Manning – Pa Photographs | Pa Photographs | Getty Photographs
Greenlanders are “bewildered” by U.S. President Donald Trump’s “devastating” bid to annex the Arctic island, its enterprise minister has informed CNBC, as the problem turns right into a geopolitical firestorm.
Chatting with CNBC on Tuesday forward of Trump addressing the annual World Financial Discussion board in Davos, Switzerland, Naaja Nathanielsen, minister for enterprise and mineral sources, described the worldwide consideration as “fairly devastating” for most of the roughly 57,000 Greenlanders.
Requested how folks in Greenland have been feeling amid Trump’s pursuit of the island, Nathanielsen mentioned: “Persons are frightened, individuals are afraid, individuals are bewildered.”
“[We have] all the time thought of ourselves as an ally of the U.S. and have tried to accommodate the wants from the U.S. over time and carried out so fortunately,” Nathanielsen mentioned through video name.
“To swiftly discover ourselves within the midst of a storm that is about buying us like a product or a property, it is actually tough for us — to not point out the threats of navy motion and an precise occupation of our nation.”
Her feedback come because the U.S. president stepped up his efforts to accumulate the self-governing Danish territory, which he has claimed is “crucial” for U.S. nationwide safety. On Monday, he answered “no remark” when requested by NBC if he’d use navy pressure to grab it.
“There could be no going again,” Trump mentioned of his plans in a social media submit on Tuesday.
The U.S. president on Saturday pledged to impose a rising wave of tariffs on eight European international locations from Feb. 1 for opposing the U.S. buying Greenland.
To swiftly discover ourselves within the midst of a storm that is about buying us like a product or a property, it is actually tough for us.”
Naaja Nathanielsen
Greenland’s minister for enterprise and mineral sources
European political leaders have sought to push again and are anticipated to carry talks over reply within the coming days. French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday described Trump’s tariff threats as “essentially unacceptable,” whereas British Prime Minister Keir Starmer known as the transfer “utterly fallacious.”
Nathanielsen informed CNBC she had been “actually moved by the sturdy present of solidarity” from European political leaders. “You can’t go together with a scheme the place it’s important to settle for that an ally occupies one other ally,” she mentioned.
‘A risk now we have by no means seen earlier than’
Protests have taken place in Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, and Denmark’s Copenhagen in current days, with folks marching with purple and white Greenlandic flags.
Opinion polls have proven that Greenlanders overwhelmingly oppose U.S. management, whereas a robust majority help independence from Denmark.
Individuals wave Greenlandic flags as they participate in an illustration that gathered nearly a 3rd of the town inhabitants to protest in opposition to the US President’s plans to take Greenland, on January 17, 2026 in Nuuk, Greenland.
Alessandro Rampazzo | Afp | Getty Photographs
Nathanielsen mentioned: “Now we have all the time recognized that our place on this planet geographically causes some tensions. We’re used to this. We was a colony of Denmark. So, we’re not we’re not unfamiliar with complexity and controversy and battle — however now we have all the time discovered our methods to adapt to the scenario and work with it.
“And proper now, I feel we’re dealing with a risk now we have by no means seen earlier than. So, I’m completely sure that have been we to grow to be occupied, that will imply the destruction of our tradition. And I discover that fairly devastating.”
Nathanielsen mentioned the island’s lawmakers would search extra readability on the way it can accommodate the U.S. “with out being swallowed up” by it.
“The specter of occupation is devastating to us. It’s completely not one thing that we’d have the ability to work with in any respect,” Nathanielsen mentioned.
“So, we don’t wish to be purchased. Now we have made that fairly clear. In fact, we do not wish to be occupied — what nation on this planet we wish that? However we do need dialogue. We do need collaboration. And we do wish to decrease the temperature,” she added.
What subsequent for Greenland?
In 2009, Greenland was granted higher autonomy over its home affairs by the Self-Authorities Act, which additionally gave the island the appropriate to carry an independence referendum. Denmark stays chargeable for its overseas, protection and safety insurance policies.
Most Greenlandic political events help independence however disagree over when and attain it. The independence motion has grow to be a balancing act between the island’s final objective of self-determination and the necessity for Denmark’s monetary help for important companies, similar to well being and schooling.
Chatting with CNBC earlier this month, Aaja Chemnitz, an MP representing Greenland within the Danish Parliament, mentioned Greenlanders wished to “make it possible for we’re not dehumanized, which I feel now we have been on this entire scenario.”
“The individuals are resilient. And I feel it is essential to keep in mind that, after all, you may’t purchase a rustic, however it’s also possible to not purchase a inhabitants,” Chemnitz informed CNBC on Jan. 8.
