Lars Joergen Kleist, wearing a Make America Great Again hat, queues to vote at the polling station in Nuuk on March 11, 2025, as Greenland, the autonomous Danish territory, holds legislative elections.
Odd Andersen | Afp | Getty Images
President Donald Trump said Thursday that he thought that the potential annexation of Greenland by the United States would happen.
Trump defended that idea, saying the U.S. needs the massive Arctic island – which is a territory of Denmark — “for international security.”
The president’s comments came during a meeting in the White House with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
A reporter asked Trump, “What is your vision for the potential annexation of Greenland.”
“I think it’ll happen,” Trump replied.
The president then turned to Rutte and said “we’ll be talking to you” about the issue.
“It’s really an appropriate question,” the president added.
Rutte quickly said, “When it comes to Greneland, yes or no joining the U.S., I would leave that outside, for me, this discussion, because I don’t want to direct NATO in that.”
Denmark, like the United States was a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a major international alliance created in 1949 on the heels of World War II.
Denmark has controlled Greenland, the world’s largest island, since the 14th century.
However, Greenland has been self-governing since 1979.
On Tuesday, the center-right, pro-business Demokraaitit party won a surprise parliamentary election victory in Greenland, garnering 30% of the vote.
The party supports a gradual independence from Denmark.
On Wednesday, Democraatit’s leader, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, criticized Trump’s call in recent weeks for Greenland to become a U.S. territory.
“We don’t want to be Americans. No, we don’t want to be Danes. We want
to be Greenlanders, and we want our own independence in the future,” Nielsen told Sky News.
“And we want to build our own country by ourselves.”
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