The Prime Minister of Greenland Jens-Frederik Nielsen holds a press conference in Nuuk, Greenland, Monday, January 5, 2026.Ritzau Scanpix/Sipa USA/AP
European leaders argued for Greenland’s sovereignty Tuesday amid President Trump’s continued threat to take over the island following his military operation in Venezuela to capture President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
Greenland is an autonomous territory in Denmark. Citizens of Greenland are also citizens of Denmark and the European Union. In a joint statement released Tuesday, more than half a dozen European leaders wrote that “Greenland belongs to its people. It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”
The leaders asserted that security in the Arctic region must be “achieved collectively”—which includes NATO allies like the United States—by upholding the UN Charter that establishes “sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders.”
Since the US captured Maduro, Trump has threatened Colombia, Mexico, Greenland, Iran, and Cuba.
The president has repeatedly called for the US to take over Greenland since his first term. On Sunday, Trump noted that Greenland was a strategic territory for the US in regards to national security.
“Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place,” Trump said.
The joint statement also comes after Katie Miller sent a post on X on Saturday that went viral, which showed a map of Greenland covered in the American flag. She captioned the image “SOON!” Miller, of course, is a conservative podcast host, former Trump administration official, and wife of White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller, who has a significant role in pushing Trump’s mass deportation of immigrants.
On Tuesday, Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen thanked the European leaders for their joint statement and urged the US to “seek respectful dialogue through the correct diplomatic and political channels” instead of making threats. He added that “very basic international principles are being challenged” as Greenland’s sovereignty is “rooted in international law.”
So why is Trump so fixated on Greenland?
As Inside Climate News reported, in collaboration with Climate Desk, Trump has listed critical minerals, untapped oil reserves, military positioning, and new international trade routes as reasons for annexing Greenland.
And as Sophie Hurwitz wrote for Mother Jones last January, Ronald Lauder, a billionaire working in the cosmetics company Estée Lauder, reportedly introduced the idea of buying Greenland to Trump in 2019. While Lauder’s motives are still unclear, in 2021, Trump explained the idea as “not so different” from his method of real estate development in New York City. “I said, ‘Why don’t we have that?’ You take a look at a map. I’m a real estate developer, I look at a corner, I say, ‘I’ve got to get that store for the building that I’m building.”
