Trump threats cast ominous shadow over icy fjords of Greenland
2025-01-12
Category: news

The sun is rising over the ice-covered mountains of Nuuk fjord and we are travelling along one of the world's last wild frontiers. But there are shadows gathering here and across the rest of the frozen spaces of Greenland. With Donald Trump about to become president of the United States, his refusal to rule out taking Greenland by force is reverberating through conversations across the island."He's welcome to come visit for sure," says the skipper of the converted fishing boat taking us east. Conscious that he needs to do business with people of all political hues, he asked not to be named, but used a phrase I hear repeatedly here."Greenland belongs to Greenlanders. So, Trump can visit but that's it."The waters are flat calm as we pull into the isolated settlement of Kapisillit - population about 40 - where a few hunters are setting out to shoot seals. It's -16C (3F), and with wind chill effect feels more like -27C.But near the harbour I meet a local church elder, Kaaleeraq Ringsted, 73, a great-grandfather, who is out drying fillets of cod caught in the fish-rich waters beside his front door.When I ask about President-elect Trump buying or invading Greenland, he chuckles at first. Then his tone becomes serious.
"It is not acceptable that he says this. Greenland is not for sale." Then he tells me how he learned to fish and hunt here with his father and grandfather, and how he wants to preserve this life for his children and grandchildren.Crossing the bay, the boat nosed through the broken surface ice. Two eagles perched on a rock, scanning for fish in the clear waters. We were heading to the farm of Angutimmarik Hansen who keeps sheep as well as hunting seals, wildfowl and rabbits. All of his winter feed for the sheep needs to be imported from Denmark, a reminder of how a harsh climate defines the possibilities of life here. Inside his front door is a rack of hunting rifles. He notices me looking at them."Those are in case there's an invasion," he jokes.
But his attitude to the bellicose rhetoric from Mar-A-Lago is far from relaxed."What a stupid person in the world like Trump," he says. "Never will we sell Greenland."This little farm is about 3,000 miles (4,828km) from Florida where the incoming US president gave his now infamous press conference last week. "But Trump is not the USA. We can work with the people of the USA," Mr Hansen says.The Trump effect went into overdrive with the arrival in Greenland of Donald Trump Jr, hot on the heels of his father's pronouncements. He flew into the capital Nuuk on the family's 737 jet - Trump Force One - and stayed for four hours and thirty-three minutes, meeting some locals and offering only polite remarks."It's been incredibly nice to meet people, and people were very happy to meet with us," he said, after lunch at a local hotel. "Dad will have to come here." Then it was back to the sunnier climes of Florida.
Trump Jr was welcomed by local businessman Jorgen Boassen, who once campaigned for the president-elect. He told local media that he was Trump's "biggest fan" and that "of course they are interested in our country, and they are welcome to come and see what our country is like. It is also about opening up for trade and cooperation."The city of Nuuk is the world's most northerly capital. It has a thriving civil society and a robust press. And there is some satisfaction here that the Trump comments have propelled the debate about Greenland's independence onto the international stage.There must be a Greenland that is nobody's colony, say campaigners like Kuno Fencker, an MP with the governing coalition and member of the local parliament's Foreign and Security Committee. We meet by the harbour, under the bronze statue of Hans Egede, the 18th century missionary widely seen here as the man who opened the way to colonisation.
"Donald Trump is a politician," says Mr Fencker. "He's a hard businessman, and we know his rhetoric, and that rhetoric is something we have gotten used to since 2019, and it's just a matter of talking to a peer, an ally, on how we can solve things here in the Arctic and also in Nato."Mr Fencker offers the central argument of pro-independence campaigners."What is necessary here is that Greenland as a sovereign state should negotiate directly with the United States and not Denmark doing that for us."Independence from Denmark could come at a significant financial cost. Greenland receives subsidies from Copenhagen worth roughly a fifth of its GDP every year. Mr Fencker suggests, as have other leading figures here, that the island would negotiate with America and Denmark for support. "We are not naïve in regard to that. We need support in defence, security, and also economic development. We want a sustainable and self-sufficient economy."The editor of the local newspaper Sermitsiaq, Maasana Egede, admits he was worried by the implied threat of force from Donald Trump,  but wants to see how reality matches the rhetoric. Danes struggle with response to Trump Greenland threatTrump wants to take Greenland: Four ways this saga could goTrump's Greenland rhetoric destabilising, says LammyAs for independence, Mr Egede has been frustrated by what he sees as a polarised debate in the media - local and international."We are very much telling this story that it has to be about independence or not independence. But there's all of this story that is in between, that people want independence, but not at any cost. There's a living standard that has to be maintained. There's trade that has to be maintained. There are living ways that have to be maintained."There is an expectation that at some point - not in the immediate future - there will be a vote in favour and Denmark will accept the result. The island's Prime Minister, Mute Egede, addressed a joint press conference with the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, in the wake of the latest Donald Trump comments."We do not want to be Danish, we do not want to be American, we want to be Greenlandic," he said. The Danish PM took care not to offend anybody, least of all the incoming US president. "The debate on Greenlandic independence and the latest announcements from the US show us the large interest in Greenland," she said. "Events which set in motion a lot of thoughts and feelings with many in Greenland and Denmark."
Ms Frederiksen knows well how deep feelings run in Greenland. Memories of injustice and racism remain fresh here among the indigenous Inuit people.Scandals like the campaign to insert IUDs (Intrauterine devices) to prevent pregnancies in thousands of Inuit women and girls in the 1960s and 70s, haunt the relationship between Greenland and Denmark. It's not known how many of these procedures were carried out without the permission of those involved, but the numbers are considerable. The aim was to reduce the Greenlandic population.Maliina Abelsen is a former finance minister in Greenland's government, and now a consultant for companies and organisations working on the island. She's also worked for UNICEF Denmark and leading Greenland businesses, like the seafood group, Royal Greenland.Ms Abelsen believes far more needs to be done to address the injustices of the past.
"I think a lot of people are saying, maybe also the Danish government and state have said, 'Oh well, you know this happened in the past. This is so many years ago. How are we going to be responsible for that? It's time to move on.' "But you cannot move on if you have not been healed, and if you have not been acknowledged to what happened to you. That is a job that we have to do together with Denmark, not something Greenland can do on its own."And despite her own high profile in civil society and business, Maliina Abelsen says that when it comes to racism - for example jokes about Inuit people - she "can speak for most Greenlanders, that we have all experienced that in our life".The issues of self-determination and facing the past are intimately intertwined. Now the intervention of Donald Trump has placed both before the eyes of the world. But the message we heard - from the remote settlements on the fjord to the capital city Nuuk - is that Greenland's destiny must be decided here, among people whose voices have been too long overlooked.With additional reporting by Adrienne Murray and Kostas Kallergis.