Danish leader says kingdom can't negotiate sovereignty after Trump's
Greenland about-turn
[January 22, 2026]
By GEIR MOULSON and JAMES BROOKS
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Denmark’s prime minister insisted that her
country can’t negotiate on its sovereignty on Thursday after U.S.
President Donald Trump said he agreed a “framework of a future deal” on
Arctic security with the head of NATO, and said she has been “informed
that this has not been the case.”
Trump on Wednesday abruptly scrapped the tariffs he had threatened to
impose on eight European nations to press for U.S. control over
Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark. It was a
dramatic reversal hours after he insisted he wanted to get the island
“including right, title and ownership” — though he also said he would
not use force.
He said “additional discussions” on Greenland were being held concerning
the Golden Dome missile defense program, a multilayered, $175 billion
system that for the first time will put U.S. weapons in space. Trump
offered few details, saying they were still being worked out.
Denmark insists on territorial integrity
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement Thursday
that security in the Arctic is a matter for all of NATO, and it is “good
and natural” that it be discussed between the U.S. president and NATO
Secretary General Mark Rutte. She said that she had spoken with Rutte
“on an ongoing basis,” including before and after he met Trump in Davos.
She wrote that NATO is fully aware of the kingdom of Denmark's position
that anything political can be negotiated on, including security,
investment and economic issues — “but we cannot negotiate on our
sovereignty.”
“I have been informed that this has not been the case,” she said, adding
that only Denmark and Greenland can make decisions on issues concerning
Denmark and Greenland.
Frederiksen said that Denmark wants to continue engaging in constructive
dialogue with allies on how to strengthen security in the Arctic,
including the U.S. Golden Dome program, “provided that this is done with
respect for our territorial integrity.”
Asked in an interview with Fox News whether Greenland would remain part
of the kingdom of Denmark under the framework deal Trump announced,
Rutte replied that “that issue did not come up any more in my
conversations tonight with the president.”
“He’s very much focused on what do we need to do to make sure that that
huge Arctic region, where change is taking place at the moment, where
the Chinese and Russians are more and more active, how we can protect
it,” he said. “That was really the focus of our discussions.”
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Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen after a meeting in the
Foreign Policy Committee at Christiansborg in Copenhagen, Denmark,
Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026./ (Thomas Traasdahl/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Welcome and skepticism over Trump's switch
On the streets of Copenhagen, some were skeptical about Trump’s
switch.
“I think the man has said many things and done a lot of different
things to what he says,” said Louise Pedersen, 22, who works with a
startup company. “I have a hard time believing it. I think it’s
terrifying that we stand here in 2026.”
She said it’s for Greenlanders to decide what happens with their
land — “not Donald Trump.”
“I don’t really trust anything Mr. Trump is saying,” said Poul
Bjoern Strand, 70, an advertising worker.
On the possibility of ceding territory, he said: “That’s not what
the Greenlanders want, that’s not what the Danish people want, and
... I cannot believe that Danes are going to follow that.”
Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany, one of the European countries
that had faced Trump's threat of tariffs over Greenland, underlined
the need for European NATO allies to do more to secure the Arctic
region and stressed that it is “a common trans-Atlantic interest.”
“We will protect Denmark, Greenland, the north from the threat posed
by Russia,” he said at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos,
Switzerland. “We will uphold the principles on which the
trans-Atlantic partnership is founded, namely sovereignty and
territorial integrity.”
“We support talks between Denmark, Greenland (and) the United States
on the basis of these principles,” aiming for closer cooperation,
Merz said. “It is good news that we are making steps into that right
direction. I welcome President Trump's remarks from last night —
this is the right way to go.”
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Moulson reported from Berlin.
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