Greenland's Prime Minister States Donald Trump Has Abandoned Idea of Annexing His Country

As the youngest head of government in Greenland’s history, Jens-Frederik Nielsen was one of the exceptional guests on Friday. He spoke on the theme “One world, multiple visions: who imposes theirs?”, alongside Jean-Noël Barrot, the French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs.

During the panel discussion, the Prime Minister stated that Donald Trump had abandoned his plan to annex his country: “Three days ago, the United States special envoy to Greenland told us that Donald Trump had given up on this idea. But the pressure is still there.”

During a press conference on the sidelines of his speech, Jens-Frederik Nielsen added that no agreement had been signed between the US President and NATO. On January 21, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the American President had claimed to have concluded the “framework of a future agreement” with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte regarding Greenland and Arctic security. “Agreements related to Greenland will be discussed in Greenland and by the Greenlandic people,” the Prime Minister stated regarding the matter. “But we have a high-level working group where we dialogue directly, and this working group is active. Its members have held numerous meetings to try to find a solution. But we do not see the end of it yet. We need time to discuss.”

Faced with the growing interest of world powers in its strategic location, Greenland reaffirms its willingness to work with partners who share its values, such as democracy, respect for international law, and national sovereignty.“The key is alliances,” the Prime Minister said. “This is the world order as we have known it since World War II. That is why, in Greenland, we have been very clear from the beginning. We chose NATO. We chose the European Union. Because we chose those values. We live in a highly strategic region. We are a massive country with a population of 57,000. Therefore, we will always depend on strong partnerships and alliances. And that is what we are ready to commit to, provided we can treat each other with respect and in compliance with international law.” “

Greenland’s position on the world map is not its only asset; it also possesses strategic resources, notably rare earth elements. The leader emphasized that his country can contribute to European resilience through these resources to reduce dependence on China: “We truly want to help use them to support the world order as we know it today, to have partners who share the values of democracy, to have partners who respect us and are ready to engage in dialogue for the benefit of everyone. That is why I stated today that we could help reduce the European Union’s dependence on China regarding rare earths, for example. But to achieve this, we will then need to de-risk, and subsequently secure supply chains from Greenland to Europe.”

Finally, Jens-Frederik Nielsen thanked the EU, and “particularly France,” for being an “unwavering” support in the face of threats of territorial acquisition. “The European Union continues to support us, and we are working to establish a closer and more strategic partnership with it,” he indicated. “This means that we now have several projects that they are financially supporting.”