Trump’s threats cast an ominous shadow over Greenland’s icy fjords

The sun rises over the ice-capped mountains of Nuuk Fjord and we travel along one of the world’s last wild frontiers.

But here and on the rest of the icy expanses of Greenland, shadows gather.

With Donald Trump, who is about to become the President of the United States refusal to exclude the seizure of Greenland by force is heard in conversations all over the island.

“He can definitely come to visit,” says the captain of the converted fishing boat that takes us east. Aware that he has to deal with people of all political stripes, he asked not to be named, but used a phrase I hear here many times.

“Greenland belongs to Greenlanders. So, Trump can visit her, but that’s it.”

The waters are calm when we pull into the isolated settlement of Kapisilit – population about 40 – where a few hunters are about to shoot seals.

Now -16C (3F) and with the wind effect it feels more like -27C.

But just outside the harbor I meet the local churchwarden, Kalirak Ringstead, 73, a great-grandfather, drying fillets of cod caught in the fish-rich waters at his entrance.

When I ask about President-elect Trump buying or invading Greenland, he first smiles. Then his tone turns serious.

“It is unacceptable that he is saying this. Greenland is not for sale.”

Then he tells how he learned to fish and hunt here with his father and grandfather and how he wants to preserve this life for his children and grandchildren.

Having crossed the gulf, the boat passed with its nose through the broken surface of the ice. Two eagles sat on a rock and looked for fish in the clear water.

We were heading to the farm of Angutimmarik Hansen, who keeps sheep and also hunts seals, wild birds and rabbits.

All of his winter sheep feed has to be imported from Denmark, a reminder of how the harsh climate defines life options here.

At his front door is a rack of hunting rifles. He notices me looking at them.

“It’s in case there’s an invasion,” he jokes.

But he is far from calm about the militant rhetoric from Mar-A-Lago.

“What a stupid person in the world like Trump,” he says. “We will never sell Greenland.”

This small farm is about 3,000 miles (4,828 km) from Florida, where the new US president gave his infamous press conference last week.

“But Trump is not the United States. We can work with the people of the United States,” says Hansen.

The Trump effect went into overdrive with the arrival of Donald Trump Jr. in Greenlandin the hot footsteps of his father’s words. He flew into the capital of Nuuk on the family’s 737 plane – Trump Force One – and stayed there for four hours and thirty-three minutes, meeting with locals and making only polite remarks.

“It was incredibly nice to meet people and people were very happy to meet us,” he said after lunch at a local hotel. – Dad will have to come here.

He then returned to the sunny climate of Florida.

Trump Jr. was greeted by local businessman Jorgen Baasen, who once campaigned for the president-elect.

He told local media that he was Trump’s “biggest supporter” and that “of course they’re interested in our country and they can come and see what our country is like. It’s also about opening up for trade and cooperation.”

The city of Nuuk is the northernmost capital of the world. Civil society and a strong press flourish here. And there is some satisfaction that Trump’s comments have brought the debate over Greenlandic independence onto the international stage.

There must be a Greenland that is no one’s colony, say campaigners such as Kuno Fenker, a government coalition MP and member of the local parliament’s foreign affairs and security committee.

We meet near the harbor, under a bronze statue of Hans Egede, an 18th-century missionary widely regarded here as the man who paved the way for colonization.

“Donald Trump is a politician,” says Mr. Fenker.

“He’s a tough businessman, and we know his rhetoric, and we’ve been used to that rhetoric since 2019, and it’s just a matter of talking to colleagues, allies, about how we can solve the problems here in the Arctic and also in NATO.”

Mr. Fenker offers the main argument of the supporters of independence.

“Here it is necessary that Greenland as a sovereign state negotiates directly with the United States, and not Denmark, which did it for us.”

Independence from Denmark could result in significant financial costs.

Every year, Greenland receives subsidies from Copenhagen amounting to about a fifth of its GDP. Mr. Fenker suggests, like other leading figures here, that the island will negotiate with America and Denmark for support.

“We are not naive in this respect. We need support in defense, security and economic development. We want a sustainable and self-sufficient economy.”

The editor of the local newspaper Sermitsiaq, Maasana Egede, admits that he is concerned about the threat of force from Donald Trump, but wants to see how reality matches the rhetoric.

On independence, Mr. Egede was frustrated by what he sees as polar debates in the media – local and international.

“We talk a lot about whether it should be independence or not independence. But there’s this whole story between them that people want independence, but not at any cost. There is a standard of living that needs to be maintained. .There is a trade to be maintained.

There is an expectation that at some point – not in the near future – there will be a yes vote and Denmark will accept the result.

Island Prime Minister Mute Egede spoke at a joint press conference with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen regarding Donald Trump’s latest comments.

“We don’t want to be Danes, we don’t want to be Americans, we want to be Greenlanders,” he said. The Danish prime minister took care not to offend anyone, especially the future president of the United States.

“The debate about Greenlandic independence and the recent statements from the US show us a lot of interest in Greenland,” she said. “Events which have stirred many thoughts and feelings in many Greenlanders and Danes.”

Ms. Frederiksen knows well how deep the feelings are in Greenland. Memories of injustice and racism remain fresh here among the indigenous Inuit people.

Scandals such as the campaign to insert IUDs (intrauterine devices) to prevent pregnancy in thousands of Inuit women and girls in the 1960s and 70s have haunted relations between Greenland and Denmark.

It is not known how many of these procedures were performed without the consent of those involved, but the numbers are significant. The goal was to reduce the population of Greenland.

Malina Abelsen is a former minister of finance in the government of Greenland, and now a consultant for companies and organizations working on the island. She has also worked for UNICEF in Denmark and leading Greenlandic businesses such as the Royal Greenland Seafood Group.

Ms. Abelsen believes that much more needs to be done to address the injustices of the past.

“I think a lot of people are saying, maybe also the government and the state of Denmark said, ‘Well, you know it happened in the past. It was so many years ago. How will we be held accountable for this? time to move on.”

“But you can’t move on unless you’ve been healed and acknowledged what happened to you. This is a job we have to do together with Denmark, not something Greenland can do on its own.”

And despite her high profile in civil society and business, Malina Abelsen says that when it comes to racism – like jokes about Inuit – she “can say on behalf of most Greenlanders that we’ve all experienced it in our lives.” .

The problems of self-determination and confrontation with the past are closely intertwined.

Now, Donald Trump’s intervention has put both before the eyes of the world.

But the message we heard – from remote fjord settlements to the capital Nuuk – is that Greenland’s fate must be decided here, among people whose voices have been ignored for too long.

With additional reporting by Adrienne Murray and Kostas Kallergis.