US President Donald Trump proposed imposing tariffs on countries that do not support US control of Greenland, citing national security concerns | Photo credit: NATHAN HOWARD/Reuters
Trump has been pushing for months for the US to control Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, and said earlier this week that anything less than the Arctic island being in US hands would be “unacceptable.” At an unrelated White House event on rural health care, he recounted Friday how he had threatened European allies with tariffs on pharmaceuticals.
“Maybe I’ll do the same for Greenland,” Trump said. “Maybe I can impose a tariff on countries if they don’t go with Greenland, because we need Greenland for national security. So I can do that,” he said.
He had not previously said he would use tariffs to force the issue.
Earlier this week, the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington this week.
That meeting did not resolve deep differences, but did produce an agreement to create a working group — on whose purpose Denmark and the White House subsequently expressed sharply differing public positions.
European leaders have insisted that only Denmark and Greenland should decide on matters affecting the area, and Denmark said this week it is increasing its military presence in Greenland in cooperation with allies.
A relationship that we must ‘nourish’
In Copenhagen, a group of senators and members of the House of Representatives met with Danish and Greenland lawmakers on Friday, as well as leaders including Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
Delegation leader Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, thanked the group’s hosts for “225 years of being a close and trusted ally and partner” and said that “we had a strong and robust dialogue about how we would expand that in the future.” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, said after meeting with lawmakers that the visit reflected a decades-long strong relationship and “it’s one we need to cherish.” She told reporters that “Greenland should be seen as our ally, not as an asset, and I think that’s what you hear in this delegation.”
The tone contrasted with that of the White House. Trump has tried to justify his calls for a U.S. takeover by repeatedly claiming that China and Russia have their own plans for Greenland, which holds vast untapped reserves of crucial minerals. The White House has not ruled out conquering the area by force.
“We have heard so many lies, to be honest, and so many exaggerations about the threats against Greenland,” said Aaja Chemnitz, a Greenlandic politician and member of the Danish parliament who took part in Friday’s meetings. “And I would say above all that the threats we see now come from the American side.” Murkowski emphasized Congress’s role in spending and delivering messages from voters.
“I think it’s important to underline that when you ask the American people whether or not they think it’s a good idea for the United States to acquire Greenland, the vast majority, about 75 percent, will say, we don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said.
Along with Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, Murkowski has introduced bipartisan legislation that would prohibit the use of U.S. Defense or State Department funds to annex or take control of Greenland or the sovereign territory of a NATO member state without the consent or consent of that North Atlantic Council ally.
Inuit council criticizes White House statements
The dispute looms large in the lives of Greenlanders. Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said on Tuesday: “If we have to choose here and now between the United States and Denmark, we choose Denmark. We choose NATO. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU.”
The chairman of the Nuuk, Greenland-based Inuit Circumpolar Council, which represents about 180,000 Inuit from Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Russia’s Chukotka region on international issues, said continued White House statements that the U.S. should own Greenland “provide a clear picture of how the U.S. government views the people of Greenland, how the U.S. government views indigenous peoples, and peoples who are few in number.” Sara Olsvig told The Associated Press in Nuuk that the issue is “how one of the world’s greatest powers views other peoples who are less powerful than them. And that is really worrying.” Indigenous Inuit in Greenland do not want to be recolonized, she said.
Published on January 17, 2026
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