The Danish Prime Minister said that US control of Greenland would mark the end of NATO

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Monday that U.S. control of Greenland would mark the end of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military alliance. Her comments came in response to US President Donald Trump’s renewed call for the strategic, mineral-rich Arctic island to be brought under US control following the weekend’s military operation in Venezuela.

The dead-of-night operation in Caracas to arrest leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife early Saturday has stunned the world and heightened fears in Denmark and Greenland, a semi-autonomous region of the Danish kingdom and thus part of NATO.

Read more: That’s why Trump says the US “needs” Greenland for Arctic security

Frederiksen and her counterpart from Greenland, Jens Fredrik Nielsen, criticized the president’s statements and warned of disastrous consequences. Many European leaders expressed their solidarity with them.

“If the United States chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, everything will stop,” Frederiksen told Danish broadcaster TV2 on Monday. “This includes our NATO and therefore the security that has been provided since the end of World War II.”

The 20-day timeline deepens concerns

During the presidential transition period and the first months of his second term, Trump repeatedly called for imposing American jurisdiction over Greenland, and did not rule out the use of military force to control the island. His comments on Sunday, including telling reporters “let’s talk about Greenland in 20 days,” further deepened fears that the United States was planning to intervene in Greenland in the near future.

Frederiksen also said Trump “should be taken seriously” when he says he wants Greenland. “We will not accept a situation where we and Greenland are threatened in this way,” she added.

In a press conference on Monday, Nielsen said that Greenland cannot be compared to Venezuela. He urged his voters to remain calm and unite.

Read more: Trump’s appointment as an envoy raises new tensions with the leaders of Greenland and Denmark

“We are not in a position where we believe that there may be control of the country overnight and that is why we insist that we want good cooperation,” he said.

“The situation is not such that the United States can simply invade Greenland,” Nielsen added.

Ask Rostrup, a political journalist at TV2, wrote in the station’s live blog on Monday that Mette would have previously flatly rejected the idea of ​​an American takeover of Greenland. But now, Rostrup wrote, the rhetoric had escalated to the point that she was forced to acknowledge the possibility.

Trump criticizes Denmark’s security efforts in Greenland

Trump on Sunday also mocked Denmark’s efforts to bolster the national security posture in Greenland, saying the Danes had added “another dogsled” to their Arctic arsenal.

“It’s very strategic right now,” Trump told reporters on Sunday as he returned to Washington from his home in Florida. “Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships everywhere.”

“We need Greenland from a national security point of view, and Denmark will not be able to do that,” he added.

He watches: Maduro appears in a US court while the future of leadership in Venezuela remains unclear

But Ulrik Bram Gadd, a global security expert from the Danish Institute for International Studies, wrote in a report last year that “there are indeed Russian and Chinese ships in the Arctic, but these ships are too far away to be seen from Greenland with or without binoculars.”

The American space base in northwest Greenland

Anger among Greenlanders and Danes increased this weekend over a social media post following the raid by former Trump administration official turned podcast host Katie Miller. The post shows an illustrated map of Greenland in the colors of the stars and stripes, accompanied by the caption: “Coming soon.”

“Yes, we expect full respect for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark,” Ambassador Jasper Møller-Sorensen, Denmark’s top envoy to Washington, said in a post in response to Miller, who is married to Trump’s influential deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.

The US Department of Defense operates the remote Petovik Space Base in northwest Greenland. It was built following the 1951 defense agreement between Denmark and the United States. It supports missile warning, missile defense, and space surveillance operations for the United States and NATO.

On mainland Denmark, the partnership between the United States and Denmark has been long-standing. The Danes are buying American F-35 fighter jets, and just last year, the Danish Parliament approved a bill allowing the establishment of American military bases on Danish territory.

Critics say the vote cedes Danish sovereignty to the United States. The legislation expands a previous military agreement, reached in 2023 with the Biden administration, under which US forces have broad access to Danish air bases in the Scandinavian country.

Chiopano reported from Warsaw, Poland, and Dazio reported from Berlin.