 "Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen attends the closing debate in the Folketing at Christiansborg in Copenhagen, Denmark, Wednesday, on May 21, 2025. (Photo: Ritzau Scanpix/Thomas Traasdahl/via Reuters)")
US President Donald Trump may have may have forgotten about Greenland for now, but Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Tuesday warned that the pause is likely only temporary.
“Trump will be back,” Politico quoted Frederiksen as saying, referring to the president’s past fixation with the Arctic island, a self-governing Danish territory rich in untapped rare earth minerals.
During his previous term, Trump floated the idea of purchasing Greenland — a suggestion that drew widespread ridicule and diplomatic friction.
He also refused to rule out the possibility of sending troops or applying economic pressure to assert US control over the region.
In recent months, Trump has made few — if any — public remarks about Greenland, his focus apparently diverted to other global and domestic issues. But Frederiksen cautioned that the lull may not last.
“Right now it seems far away. There is perhaps a feeling that we can breathe a sigh of relief,” Politico quoted Frederiksen as saying during the opening of the Danish parliament. But: “It is my belief that we cannot.”
She added that Greenland’s population of 60,000 still lived in fear of an American takeover.
“Imagine what it’s like to live in one of the small settlements along the coast … when the world’s strongest superpower has talked about you as something that can be bought, as something that can be owned, as something that must be had,” Frederiksen said.
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More Shorts“No matter what happens, we support Greenland in determining its own future. And we will not be threatened or intimidated into doing something that is clearly wrong,” she added.
Since Trump’s highly publicised interest in purchasing the Arctic island in 2019, Greenland — an autonomous Danish territory — has moved to strengthen ties with the European Union and other international partners.
Among its latest moves is a pending critical minerals partnership with the United Kingdom.
Greenlandic Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt, speaking to Politico in May, said the island is seeking trade relationships with “like-minded countries,” and criticised Trump’s past rhetoric as aggressive and destabilising.
Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen is scheduled to address the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday, in what is expected to be a continuation of efforts to bolster international support and assert the island’s sovereignty.
With inputs from agencies