Christian Ulloriaq Jeppesen recalls how it all began.
In 2019, during Donald J. Trump’s first term as president, Mr. Trump floated the idea of the United States buying the island of Greenland. At the time, most people in Greenland (and Denmark, the European country that controls it) thought his proposal was a joke.
“Everybody said, ‘Ha-ha, you can’t just buy a country, he doesn’t mean it,'” Mr. Jeppesen, a native Greenlander and radio producer, said by phone. “Obviously it was the wrong way to take it. Look at where we are today.”
Now Mr. Trump doubled down on his insistence that the United States must annex Greenland for security reasons. Because of this, Greenlanders ask the same questions as everyone else, but with much more discomfort.
Is Mr. Trump just bombastic again, presenting a fantastic annexation plan that he may know is far-fetched?
Or is he serious?
Based on his comments over the past few weeks, Mr. Trump seems dead serious. It does not matter that the Danish leadership said that the territory is not for sale and that its future must be determined by the local population.
“For the purposes of national security and freedom throughout the world, the United States of America considers ownership and control of Greenland to be an absolute necessity,” Mr. Trump wrote in late December in posting on social networks announcing his election as ambassador to Denmark.
At a press conference on Tuesday, the newly elected president made the announcement more surprising turn: He refused to rule out the use of military force to conquer Greenland.
France and Germany take Mr. Trump seriously enough that both issued press releases on Wednesday defending Greenland’s territorial integrity and warning against the threat of any military action.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the principle of inviolability of borders applies to every country, “regardless of whether it is very small or very powerful.” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said it was “obviously out of the question” to threaten the “sovereign borders” of another country.
“Do I think the United States will attack Greenland? The answer is no,” Mr. Barrett he told France Inter radio. “Have we entered an era in which the rule of the stronger returns? The answer is yes.”
Another sign of Mr. Trump’s interest in Greenland came on Tuesday when his son, Donald Trump Jr. suddenly appeared on the island.
The president-elect’s son landed in Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, in the afternoon, toured some sights, including an 18th-century statue of a Danish-Norwegian missionary, and was hosted by a Danish Trump supporter. He said that the reason for the trip was personal, not official, but the newly elected president posted about his son and “various representatives” visited and said “LET’S MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN.”
“This is all getting scary,” Mr. Jeppesen said.
At 836,000 square miles, Greenland is the largest island in the world, about a quarter the size of the United States. It is an autonomous territory of Denmark and elects two representatives to the Danish parliament and 31 to its own, which is responsible for most aspects of the island’s government. Denmark, however, retains control over defence, security matters and elements of international affairs.
Its location and landscape make it attractive to Mr. Trump on several levels.
Greenland is strategically positioned on top of the world, east of Canada along the Arctic Sea, and is home to a large US military base. is loaded with mineral resources such as cobalt, copper and nickel.
And as climate change melts the ice, it opens up new routes through the Arctic zone, which is becoming an area of fierce conflict for shipping, energy and other natural resources, as well as military maneuvers.
The flurry of attention comes at a sensitive time for Greenland. More and more Greenlanders yearn for independence, and many feel growing resentment towards Denmark, which has played the role of watchdog for decades. Greenland has a small population for its size, and most of the 56,000 Greenlanders are Inuit, part of a group of peoples who also live in Canada and Alaska.
The Greenlandic language is completely different from Danish. Many people follow a culture and belief system that is different from that of Western Europe. And, like indigenous peoples in the United States and elsewhere, they have long been treated unequally.
Greenlanders’ resentment towards Denmark intensified two years ago after revelations emerged about Danish doctors who in the 1960s and 1970s fitted thousands of indigenous women and girls with intrauterine contraceptive devices, often without their knowledge.
Danish officials have repeatedly said that Greenland is not for sale, although they have emphasized their desire for warm relations with the United States and signaled their openness to dialogue. Last month, Denmark’s king jumped into the fray by abruptly changing the country’s coat of arms to more prominently feature the symbols of Greenland and the Faroe Islands (another Danish-controlled territory) — a polar bear and a sheep.
In the midst of this identity debate, many people are now puzzling over Mr. Trump’s intentions.
“Is it just a nuisance?” asked Ulrik Pram Gad, senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies. “Or is it diplomacy based on threats?”
Aviaaja Sandgren, a nurse who lives in the small town of Qaqortoq (all towns in Greenland are small), does not want to be part of the United States.
“We would lose a lot of benefits,” she said when we reached her by phone Wednesday. “We have free education, scholarships for education, free health care and free medicine. Everything is free here in Greenland.”
“I know they don’t have that in the US,” she said.
Denmark ruled Greenland as a colony from the 1700s to the mid-20th century and strongly suppressed indigenous culture. During World War II, the United States set up bases in Greenland to keep it out of the hands of the Nazis after Germany occupied Denmark, and when the war ended, they offered to buy the island from Denmark, which refused.
Greenland was annexed to Denmark in 1953, and the Danes helped rebuild the economy, transport and education system. In 1979, Greenland gained limited autonomy over internal affairs and established its own parliament.
Thirty years later, Denmark expanded Greenland’s self-government and under it agreementGreenlanders have the right to hold a referendum on independence. The reason this hasn’t happened yet, analysts say, is that Greenland is still heavily dependent on Denmark for many professional services — including doctors, nurses and teachers — as well as half a billion dollars a year in subsidies.
Aaja Chemnitz, one of Greenland’s two representatives in the Danish parliament, said she was concerned that Mr. Trump may be trying to fuel the Greenland independence movement to advance his own interests. “We risk becoming a pawn in the game between Denmark and the USA,” she said.
Greenland benefits from the Danish welfare system, she said, and would be much worse off if it became part of the United States.
“I saw the American system,” Ms. Chemnitz, who lived in New York while working for the United Nations, said in a telephone interview. “I know how damaging that can be to equality.”
Mr. Jeppesen, a radio producer, said that Mr. Trump may be misreading the independent nature of the Greenlanders. Greenland is not just a big piece of territory. It is a nation, a story, a homeland.
“There is an enormous amount of pride in being one of only 56,000,” said Mr. Jeppesen. “Greenland is amazing, beautiful, the most beautiful country in the world.”
“And it is a country fighting for independence,” he said. “There is no real estate you can buy.”
Steven Erlanger contributed reporting from Berlin, Aurelien Breeden from Paris and Christopher F. Schuetze from Berlin.
