People hold Greenlandic flags and placards as they gather by the US Consulate to march in protest against US President Donald Trump and his announced intent to acquire Greenland in Nuuk, Greenland.
Sean Gallup/Getty Images
- Denmark sent additional troops to Greenland.
- US President Donald Trump declined to rule out using military force to take control of the island.
- Denmark has repeatedly said the territory is not for sale.
Denmark has sent additional troops to Greenland amid US President Donald Trump’s threats to take control of the self-governing Danish territory.
The chief of the Royal Danish Army, Peter Boysen, and a “substantial contribution” of soldiers landed in Kangerlussuaq in western Greenland on Monday evening, public broadcaster DR and other Danish media reported.
Public broadcaster TV2 reported that 58 Danish troops landed in the Arctic territory, joining about 60 others dispatched earlier to participate in ongoing multinational military exercises, dubbed Operation Arctic Endurance.
Denmark’s Ministry of Defence and the Danish Armed Forces did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The deployment came hours after Trump declined to rule out using military force to take control of vast, mineral-rich Arctic territory, which the US president claims is vital to Washington’s security.
READ | Europe won’t be ‘blackmailed’: EU plans emergency summit after Trump Greenland tariff threat
In an interview with NBC News on Monday, Trump replied, “no comment”, in response to a question about whether he could seize the island by force.
Trump’s remarks came after he told Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Storer in a text message over the weekend that he no longer felt obliged to “think purely of Peace” after not being awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.
🆕 @SecGenNATO met 🇩🇰 Denmark’s Defence Minister and 🇬🇱 Greenland’s Foreign Minister. They discussed the importance of the Arctic, including Greenland, for NATO’s collective security.
Allies continue to work together to ensure we have what it takes to address all security…
— NATO (@NATO) January 19, 2026
Denmark has expressed openness to a beefed-up US military presence in Greenland, but has repeatedly said the territory is not for sale and that any move to take the island by force would spell the end of NATO.
Trump’s insistence that Greenland must be brought under US control has brought US-European relations to their lowest ebb in decades and raised fears about the potential disintegration of the transatlantic security alliance, whose 32 members include both the US and Denmark.
Under Article 5 of NATO’s charter, the alliance considers an armed attack against any one member as an attack against all.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Monday met with Danish Minister of Defence Troels Lund Poulsen and Greenland’s minister of foreign affairs, Vivian Motzfeldt, to discuss proposals for boosting Arctic security, including the establishment of a joint NATO mission in the Danish territory.
Beijing just responded to Trump’s “China threat” talk on Greenland:
“We urge the United States to stop using the so-called threat from China as a pretext to pursue its own selfish interests.”
Translation: stop screaming “China” every time you want to grab someone else’s land. pic.twitter.com/Kv0XmDqMSQ
— Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) January 19, 2026
Rutte said in a statement that the sides had discussed the importance of the Arctic to “our collective security” and Copenhagen’s growing investments in its defence capabilities.
“We’ll continue to work together as allies on these important issues,” Rutte said.
Poulsen stressed the need for unity following the talks.
“Thank you to our allies for standing up for Greenland and Denmark,” he said.
At the same time that Trump’s moves are placing security ties under strain, his threat to impose tariffs on Denmark and seven other European countries until a deal is reached to buy Greenland has raised the prospect of a full-blown transatlantic trade war.
The EU is set to convene an emergency meeting on Thursday to discuss its response to the crisis, with retaliatory tariffs and the activation of the bloc’s anti-coercion mechanism among the options under consideration.
Through the strategic imposition of tariffs, @POTUS moved quickly and decisively to preemptively address numerous emergencies. He has regained our sovereignty.
I believe that the Supreme Court will not want to create chaos, and that President Trump’s actions are on sound… pic.twitter.com/7B0u0WeRLI
— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) January 19, 2026
Triggering the Anti-Coercion Instrument, also known as the “trade bazooka”, would allow the bloc to impose sweeping restrictions on the investment and business activities of US tech firms within the single market.
AFP reported that on Monday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned European nations against retaliatory tariffs over Trump’s threatened levies to obtain control of Greenland.
“I think it would be very unwise,” Bessent told reporters on the first day of the World Economic Forum.
He said Trump wanted control of the autonomous Danish territory because he considers it a “strategic asset” and “we are not going to outsource our hemispheric security to anyone else.”
This image shows traditional Greenlandic houses in near-dark conditions in Nuuk, Greenland.
Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday that she had stressed the “need to unequivocally respect the sovereignty” of Denmark and Greenland in a meeting with US diplomats on the sidelines of the Davos summit in Switzerland.
“This is of utmost importance to our transatlantic relationship,” von der Leyen said.
“At the same time, the European Union remains ready to continue working closely with the United States, NATO, and other allies, in close cooperation with Denmark, to advance our shared security interests.”
An opinion poll, commissioned by Danish paper Berlingske last year, suggested that 85% of Greenland’s residents did not wish to join the US, with just 6% in favour.
