You cannot annex other countries, Danish and Greenlandic leaders tell Trump

Original article by Jon Henley Europe correspondent

The prime ministers of Denmark and Greenland have demanded respect for their borders after Donald Trump appointed a special envoy to the largely self-governing Danish territory, which he has said repeatedly should be under US control.

“We have said it very clearly before. Now we say it again. National borders and the sovereignty of states are rooted in international law … You cannot annex other countries,” Mette Frederiksen and Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a joint statement.

The two leaders added that “fundamental principles” were at stake. “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders, and the US should not take over Greenland,” they said. “We expect respect for our common territorial integrity.”

Trump on Sunday appointed the governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, as US special envoy to the vast, mineral-rich Arctic island. The US president has on several occasions said the US needs to acquire Greenland for security reasons, while refusing to rule out the use of force.

The US president wrote on social media: “Jeff understands how essential Greenland is to our National Security, and will strongly advance our Country’s Interests for the Safety, Security, and Survival of our Allies, and indeed, the World.”

Landry, a former state attorney general who took office as Louisiana governor in January 2024, thanked Trump, saying it was “an honour to serve you in this volunteer position to make Greenland a part of the US”.

Denmark’s foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, told Danish television on Monday he would summon Washington’s ambassador to Copenhagen, Ken Howery, to the ministry in the coming days “to get an explanation”.

Rasmussen said he was “deeply upset by this appointment of a special envoy”, and “particularly upset” by Landry’s statement, which he said Denmark had found “completely unacceptable”.

He added: “As long as we have a kingdom in Denmark that consists of Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Greenland, we cannot accept that there are those who undermine our sovereignty.”

Arctic security remained a key priority for the EU, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and the European Council president, António Costa, said on Monday. “Territorial integrity and sovereignty are fundamental principles of international law. These principles are essential not only for the European Union, but for nations around the world,” they posted on X.

Von der Leyen and Costa added that the EU stood “in full solidarity with Denmark and the people of Greenland”.

Sweden “will always stand guard over international law”, the Swedish foreign minister, Maria Malmer Stenergard, said. Her Norwegian counterpart, Espen Barth Eide, said Oslo “stands 100% behind Denmark”.

He said it was clear that the appointment underscored Trump’s intention to make Greenland part of the US. “The purpose of this job, which Jeff Landry is to perform, is to make Greenland American,” Barth Eide said.

The vast majority of Greenland’s 57,000 inhabitants want to become independent from Denmark but have no wish to become part of the US, according to a poll in January. The territory has had the right to declare independence since 2009.

Frederiksen said in a social media post that Denmark’s “ally of a lifetime” was putting it in “a difficult situation”. But she said the Nordic country would “not deviate from our democratic values”.

Nielsen said in a separate post that the appointment “may sound big”, but “does not change anything for us at home. We have our own democracy, our own decisions and a strong community that stands firm. Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders.”

Aaja Chemnitz, a Greenlandic member of the Danish parliament, said the appointment of a US envoy was not in itself a problem. “The problem is that he’s been given the task of taking over Greenland or making Greenland part of the US,” she said.

“There’s no desire for that in Greenland. There is a desire to respect the future that a majority in Greenland wants, namely to remain their own country and develop their independence over time.”

Strategically situated between North America and Europe at a time of increasing US, Chinese and Russian interest in the Arctic, Greenland is also on the shortest route for missiles between Russia and the US.

Denmark summoned the US chargé d’affaires in August for an urgent meeting over an alleged influence campaign after at least three US men with ties to Trump and the White House were accused of trying to infiltrate Greenlandic society.

Several high-profile American politicians and business people have travelled to Greenland since Trump’s election. Donald Trump Jr visited the capital, Nuuk, in January and the vice-president, JD Vance, toured a US military base in March.

Earlier this month, the Danish defence intelligence service said in its annual report that the US was using its economic power to “assert its will” and threaten military force against friend and foe alike.