Denmark is struggling to keep calm during the crisis over Trump’s threat to take over Greenland

The gloomy January weather in Copenhagen matches the mood of Danish politicians and businessmen.

“We take this situation very, very seriously,” Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said of Donald Trump’s threats to buy Greenland — and punish Denmark with high tariffs if it interferes.

But, he added, the government “has no ambitions to start a war of words.”

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen rejected Trump’s suggestion that the US could use military force to seize Greenland. “I don’t have the imagination to imagine that it will ever come to this,” she told Danish television.

And Lars Sandal Sørensen, CEO of Danish Industry, also said there was “every reason to remain calm… nobody is interested in a trade war”.

But behind the scenes, hastily arranged high-level meetings took place in Copenhagen all week, reflecting the shock of Trump’s remarks.

Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede flew in on Wednesday to meet with the Prime Minister and King Frederik X.

And on Thursday evening, party leaders from across the political spectrum gathered for an extraordinary meeting on the crisis with Mette Frederiksen in the Danish parliament.

Faced with what many in Denmark are calling Trump’s “provocation,” Frederiksen has generally tried to strike a conciliatory tone, repeatedly calling the U.S. “Denmark’s closest partner.”

“It’s only natural” that the US was preoccupied with the Arctic and Greenland, she added.

However, she also said that any decision about Greenland’s future should be made by its people alone: ​​”Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders… and it is up to the Greenlanders themselves to determine their future.”

Her cautious approach is twofold.

On the one hand, Frederiksen seeks to avoid an escalation of the situation. She’s been burned before, in 2019, when Trump canceled a trip to Denmark after she said his offer to buy Greenland was “absurd.”

“Then he only had one year in office, then it was back to normal,” veteran political journalist Eric Holstein told the BBC. “But maybe this is the new normal.”

But Frederiksen’s comments also indicate Denmark’s determination not to interfere in the internal affairs of Greenland, an autonomous territory with its own parliament whose population is increasingly leaning towards independence.

“She should have been much clearer rejecting the idea,” said opposition MP Rasmus Jarlau.

“This level of disrespect from the incoming president of the United States to very, very loyal allies and friends has become a record,” he told the BBC, although he acknowledged that Trump’s strength “surprised everyone.”

The Conservative MP felt that Frederiksen’s insistence that “only Greenland… can decide and determine the future of Greenland” was putting too much pressure on the islanders. “It would be wise and reasonable to support Greenland and just make it clear that Denmark does not want (a US takeover).”

The Greenland issue is a sensitive one for Denmark, whose prime minister only recently formally apologized for instigating a 1950s social experiment in which Inuit children were taken from their families to be re-educated as “model Danes”.

Last week, Greenland’s leader said the territory must free itself from the “shackles of colonialism.”

In doing so, he tapped into the rise of nationalist sentiment fueled by the interest of Greenland’s younger generations in indigenous Inuit culture and history.

Most commentators now expect a successful independence referendum in the near future. While this will be seen as a victory for many, it could also lead to new challenges as 60% of Greenland’s economy is dependent on Denmark.

An independent Greenland “would have to make a choice,” Carsten Honge said. The Social Democrat MP now fears his preferred option for a new Commonwealth-style pact “based on equality and democracy” is unlikely to happen.

Sitting in his parliamentary office, decorated with poems and pictures depicting scenes from Inuit life, Honge said Greenland will have to decide “how much it values ​​independence.” He could cut ties with Denmark and turn to the U.S., Honge said, “but if you value independence, it doesn’t make sense.”

Opposition MP Jarlau argues that although there is no point in forcing Greenland to become part of Denmark, “it is already very close to independence.”

Its capital, Nuuk, is self-governing but dependent on Copenhagen for currency management, foreign relations and defence, as well as significant subsidies.

“Today, Greenland has more independence from the EU than Denmark,” Jarlau added. “So I hope they will think things through.”

As Mette Frederiksen has the awkward task of responding firmly without offending Greenland or the US, the strongest rebuttal to Trump’s comments so far has come from outside Denmark.

The principle of the inviolability of borders “applies to every country … whether it is very small or very powerful,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned, while French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barot said the EU would not allow other countries “to attack it sovereign borders”.

Their comments revealed deep concerns in the EU about how to deal with a future Trump presidency. “This is not only very serious for Greenland and Denmark – it is serious for the whole world and Europe as a whole,” said MP Carsten Hong.

“Imagine the world we may face in just a few weeks, in which international agreements do not exist. It would shake everything up, and Denmark would only be a small part of it.”

Denmark’s trading sector was also gripped by deep nervousness after Trump said he would “take Denmark to a very high level” if it refused to hand over Greenland to the US.

Danish Industry Survey 2024. revealed that Denmark’s GDP would fall by three percentage points if the US imposes 10% tariffs on EU imports into the US as part of a global trade war.

Excluding Danish goods from the flow of EU goods would be nearly impossible for the US and would almost certainly lead to retaliatory measures from the EU. But trade professionals are taking few risks, and in Denmark, as elsewhere on the continent, vast resources are being spent domestically on planning the potential outcome of Donald Trump’s second term in the White House.

As his inauguration approaches, the Danes are preparing to weather the storm as best they can. There is a cautious hope that the president-elect may soon shift his focus to grudges against other EU partners and that the Greenland issue may be put on hold.

But the anxiety caused by Trump’s refusal to rule out military intervention to seize Greenland remains.

Karsten Honge said Denmark would be hurt by any US decision.

“They just need to send a small battleship to go down to the coast of Greenland and send a polite letter to Denmark,” he said, only partly in jest.

“The last sentence will be: Well, Denmark, what are you going to do about it?

“This is the new reality for Trump.”