Perhaps the only thing certain about the start of Donald Trump’s second term as US president is nothing is certain. Still, no one quite anticipated that Denmark, a tiny nation in comparison to the US that many Americans would struggle to locate on a map, would figure so heavily in Trump’s initial moves. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen went as far as to describe Trump’s desire to take control of Greenland as “an unusual and fierce foreign policy situation” in a statement on her Facebook page earlier this week.
Frederiksen, like millions across Europe and the wider world, was preparing to watch Monday’s inauguration in the “expectation that we as Europeans will have to navigate a new reality” that would most likely be “a long run”. The previous week, she had had a “long conversation” with President Trump about Greenland “that will continue for the future”. In the end, Trump said nothing about Greenland during the inauguration speech itself but did remark to a reporter afterwards that he believed Denmark would “come along” on his plans to purchase Greenland. He also refused to rule out the use of military force, stating, “Greenland is a wonderful place. [America] need[s] it for national security”.
Since those comments on Tuesday evening, Trump has remained silent on his plans regarding Greenland. However, Denmark is left in what Frederiksen described as “a difficult situation, which unfortunately has become more unpredictable. And the seriousness has not lessened”. Frederiksen has reiterated her continued commitment to developing the sense of community between Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands and protecting Greenland from Russian and Chinese threats. She is focused on maintaining a united EU, working in a “respectful, proper and modern way” together. France and Germany in particular have condemned Trump’s actions, stressing the inviolability of borders no matter the country’s size. Frederiksen has also emphasised that “the decision about Greenland’s independence will be made by the Greenlandic people”. Múte B. Egede, the Prime Minister of Greenland, told Politico: “We are Greenlanders. We don’t want to be Americans. We don’t want to be Danish either. Greenland’s future will be decided by Greenland.” Egede has sought to reassure his people: “It is very understandable people are worried. But the most important thing now is people remain calm, we must be able to meet and talk about this calmly…you can’t get around the fact that if they [the U.S.] want to talk about Greenland, they have to talk to Greenland.”
However, Mette Frederiksen also acknowledges it is “extremely important” to maintain the alliance between Denmark and the US for the Danish economy as well as tackling global challenges, particularly climate change. It is an unenviable position for Denmark to be in.
So how do the nearly 10,000 Americans living in Denmark feel about the conflict between the two countries? Last Week in Denmark has been speaking to some of our American readers this week about how the situation has affected them on a personal level, what they think Trump’s motivations really are and how they see the future.
Kathlynn Whitley, a writer from Chicago, moved to Denmark two years ago with her partner for work. She has found it surreal to see Denmark feature so prominently in Trump’s initial moves as President: “It’s hard not to fall into a conspiracy theory mindset. I think when we’re rational people, we naturally look for sense amongst the chaos, but I see a lot of what Trump says as just noise. It’s designed to frighten. It’s bullying tactics. It’s a form of propaganda, actually. I would be very surprised if he actually moved to take Greenland by force.”
The US/Denmark conflict has been upsetting for her too on a personal level: “I lived with the constant fear of violence in the US, from guns, from misogyny, from homophobia and transphobia. I thought that was normal, but my anxiety has dissipated so much living in Denmark. I realised there are other, healthier ways to live and that not all countries in the world run like the US does. Now, it feels like Trump just said ‘Too bad, you might have thought you’d escaped but we’re just going to bring the violence to you there’.
For Jill Archer, originally from California, who moved to Denmark from Portland, Oregon in 2023, the conflict between the US and Denmark has a uniquely personal dimension. This week she has been discussing the situation with her 96-year old Danish grandmother, who moved from Copenhagen to California in the 1960s. Her grandmother, like Archer, despises Trump: “She’s really sad and really angry about all of this.”
Like Whitley, Archer describes her move to Denmark with her partner and 11-year old daughter as “Very much bound up with safety. I grew up in the US but my roots are Danish; our family traditions are Danish. I feel I’ve lost that sense of safety that moving here brought me. Everything feels anxious. During Trump’s first term, when we were still living in the States, so many people around me were living in this heightened state of anxiety. We would wake up every morning and brace ourselves for what Trump would have decided overnight that might seriously impact us, that he might or might not actually enact. So him being re-elected does feel like the experience of PTSD for me. I feel a sense of survivor’s guilt as well: I’m not living there now but most of my family still do. My grandmother can’t just choose to leave.”
Archer sees Trump’s bid for Greenland as partly a “land grab for ease of access to trade routes and defence capability” and partly about “vengeance”. She feels much of what Trump says are throwaway comments but she remains anxious about the future. She describes the days since Trump’s inauguration as the “longest week of my life”.
Libby Abbott is an environmental campaigner originally from Texas who has lived in Jutland for the past year after relocating for her partner’s job. For her, Trump re-entering the White House is a difficult reminder of why she originally left America for the UK two decades ago: “I feel like I did in the 2000s – I was embarrassed to introduce myself as American back then with the invasion of Iraq, and I feel the same way now. It feels like there is no escape. With Trump’s threats regarding Greenland, it feels like the bigotry has just followed me here.”
Abbott also worries about the “long term consequences” of “having a climate change denier in power” in the world’s most powerful nation. She campaigned at COP 21 in 2015 where the Paris Climate Agreement was signed: “I stood arm in arm with thousands of other people in front of the Eiffel Tower, celebrating this epic moment – every country making a commitment to tackle climate change. We all felt despair when Trump pulled the US out of the Agreement for the first time in 2017 and it’s no surprise that he’s done it again.”
Kathlynn Whitley also sees Trump’s threatening of Denmark and Greenland as “a betrayal of the US’s European allies. The relationships between the US and Europe have always been a point of pride for Americans. Trump doesn’t care about any other countries: all he wants to do is protect US interests, namely trade routes through the Arctic. I can understand there might be an attraction to the US amongst some in Greenland, but their welfare and futures do not figure anywhere in Trump’s thinking.”
One thing seems certain: that the US conflict with Denmark and Greenland will not be quickly resolved. So how can Americans living here deal with the situation? Abbott says she tries “not to live in dread. I just hope that all the other signatories to the Paris Agreement will see the urgency and take it as a rallying cry to unify and pick up the slack.” Whitley is trying to be “intentional” about the news she consumes. She sees Trump’s rhetoric as “propaganda designed to take up space and fill our minds so we can’t think about anything else or question his arguments”. All three women agree that resisting this and voicing their views helps. As Whitley puts it, “I want to talk about it – it’s hard not to. I need to be able to say, ‘Am I going insane? You’re seeing this too, right?’ There’s a comfort in having that sense of community.”
