Naaja Nathanielsen, Greenland’s minister for industry, raw materials, mining, energy, law enforcement and equality, addresses MPs at a meeting in the Inter-Parliamentary Union room in the Houses of Parliament, Westminster, England, organized by the All-Party Parliamentary Groups for Greenland following U.S. threats to take over the territory.
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Greenlanders are “bewildered” by President Donald Trump’s “devastating” bid to annex the Arctic island, its business minister has told CNBC, as the issue turns into a geopolitical firestorm.
Speaking to CNBC on Tuesday ahead of Trump addressing the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Naaja Nathanielsen, minister for business and mineral resources, described the international attention as “quite devastating” for many of the roughly 57,000 Greenlanders.
Asked how people in Greenland have been feeling amid Trump’s pursuit of the island, Nathanielsen said: “People are worried, people are afraid, people are bewildered.”
“[We have] always considered ourselves as an ally of the U.S. and have tried to accommodate the needs from the U.S. over the years and done so happily,” Nathanielsen said via video call.
“To all of a sudden find ourselves in the midst of a storm that’s about acquiring us like a product or a property, it’s really difficult for us — not to mention the threats of military action and an actual occupation of our country.”
Her comments come as the U.S. president stepped up his efforts to acquire the self-governing Danish territory, which he has claimed is “imperative” for U.S. national security. On Monday, he answered “no comment” when asked by NBC if he’d use military force to seize it.
“There can be no going back,” Trump said of his plans in a social media post on Tuesday.
The U.S. president on Saturday pledged to impose a rising wave of tariffs on eight European countries from Feb. 1 for opposing the U.S. acquiring Greenland.
To all of a sudden find ourselves in the midst of a storm that’s about acquiring us like a product or a property, it’s really difficult for us.
Naaja Nathanielsen
Greenland’s minister for business and mineral resources
European political leaders have sought to push back and are expected to hold talks over how to respond in the coming days. French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday described Trump’s tariff threats as “fundamentally unacceptable,” while British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the move “completely wrong.”
Nathanielsen told CNBC she had been “really moved by the strong show of solidarity” from European political leaders. “You cannot go along with a scheme where you have to accept that an ally occupies another ally,” she said.
‘A threat we have never seen before’
Protests have taken place in Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, and Denmark’s Copenhagen in recent days, with people marching with red and white Greenlandic flags.
Opinion polls have shown that Greenlanders overwhelmingly oppose U.S. control, while a strong majority support independence from Denmark.
People wave Greenlandic flags as they take part in a demonstration that gathered almost a third of the population of the Greenlandic capital of Nuuk to protest against the U.S. president’s plans to acquire Greenland, Jan. 17, 2026.
Alessandro Rampazzo | AFP | Getty Images
Nathanielsen said: “We have always known that our position in the world geographically causes some tensions. We’re used to this. We used to be a colony of Denmark. So, we’re not we’re not unfamiliar with complexity and controversy and conflict — but we have always found our ways to adapt to the situation and work with it.
“And right now, I think we’re facing a threat we have never seen before. So, I am absolutely certain that were we to become occupied, that would mean the destruction of our culture. And I find that quite devastating.”
Nathanielsen said the island’s lawmakers would seek more clarity on how it can accommodate the U.S. “without being swallowed up” by it.
“The threat of occupation is devastating to us. It is absolutely not something that we would be able to work with at all,” Nathanielsen said.
“So, we do not want to be bought. We have made that quite clear. Of course, we don’t want to be occupied — what country in the world would want that? But we do want dialogue. We do want collaboration. And we do want to lower the temperature,” she added.
What next for Greenland?
In 2009, Greenland was granted greater autonomy over its domestic affairs through the Self-Government Act, which also gave the island the right to hold an independence referendum. Denmark remains responsible for its foreign, defense and security policies.
Most Greenlandic political parties support independence but disagree over when and how to reach it. The independence movement has become a balancing act between the island’s ultimate goal of self-determination and the need for Denmark’s financial support for essential services, such as health and education.
Speaking to CNBC earlier this month, Aaja Chemnitz, an MP representing Greenland in the Danish Parliament, said Greenlanders wanted to “make sure that we’re not dehumanized, which I think we have been in this whole situation.”
“The people are resilient. And I think it’s important to remember that, of course, you can’t buy a country, but you can also not buy a population,” Chemnitz told CNBC on Jan. 8.
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