OSLO – Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has commended the people of Greenland for their resilience in the face of intense pressure from the US administration under President Donald Trump, which has expressed interest in taking control of the semi-autonomous Danish territory.
Opinion polls indicate that nearly all Greenlanders oppose becoming part of the United States. Recent weeks have seen some of the largest anti-American protests in the island’s history, reflecting widespread opposition to the idea.
“The attention is overwhelming and the pressure is great, but it is in times like these that you show what you are made of,” Frederiksen wrote in a Facebook post directed at the people of Greenland. “You have not been cowed. You have stood up for who you are – and you have shown what you stand for. That has my deepest respect.”
President Trump reiterated his interest in Greenland on Wednesday, emphasizing its strategic importance.
“We need Greenland for national security and international security. So, I think we’ll go as far as we have to go. We need Greenland, and the world needs us to have Greenland, including Denmark,” Trump told journalists in the Oval Office.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance is scheduled to visit the U.S. military base at Pituffik in northern Greenland on Friday. However, a previously planned visit by his wife, Usha Vance, to a popular dog-sled race was canceled amid local protests. The cancellation of the visit to the sporting event helped ease diplomatic tensions, according to Denmark’s foreign minister.
“The decision to only visit the Pituffik base represents a de-escalation of the situation,” the minister stated on Wednesday, welcoming the resolution.