Greenland leaders push back on Trump’s calls for US control of the island: ‘We don’t want to be Americans’

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Greenland’s leadership is pushing back on PresidentDonald Trumpas he and his administration call for the U.S.to take control of the island.Several Trump administration officials have backed the president’s calls for a takeover of Greenland, with many citing national security reasons.

“We don’t want to be Americans, we don’t want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders,” Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and four party leaders said in a statement Friday night, according toThe Associated Press.Greenland, a self-governing Danish territory and a longtime U.S.ally, has repeatedly rejected Trump’s statements about U.S.acquiring the island.

Greenland’s party leadersreiterated that the island’s “future must be decided by the Greenlandic people.”

“As Greenlandic party leaders, we would like to emphasize once again our wish that the United States’ contempt for our country ends,” the statement said.

TRUMP SAYS US IS MAKING MOVES TO ACQUIRE GREENLAND ‘WHETHER THEY LIKE IT OR NOT’

Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and President Donald Trump in a split image

Greenland has rejected the Trump administration’s push to take over the Danish territory.(Thomas Traasdahl/Ritzau Scanpix / AFP via Getty Images;Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Trump was asked about the push to acquire Greenland on Friday during a roundtable with oil executives.The president, who has maintained that Greenland is vital to U.S.security, said it was important for the country to make the move so it could beat its adversaries to the punch.

“We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not,” Trump said Friday.“Because if we don’t do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland, and we’re not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor.”

Trump hosted nearly two dozen oil executives at the White House on Friday to discuss investments in Venezuela after the historic capture of PresidentNicolás Maduroon Jan.3.

“We don’t want to have Russia there,” Trump said of Venezuela on Friday when asked if the nation appears to be an ally to the U.S.“We don’t want to haveChinathere.And, by the way, we don’t want Russia or China going to Greenland, which, if we don’t take Greenland, you can have Russia or China as your next-door neighbor.That’s not going to happen.”

Trump said the U.S.is in control of Venezuela after the capture and extradition of Maduro.

Nielsen has previously rejected comparisons between Greenland and Venezuela, saying that his island was looking to improve its relations with the U.S.,according to Reuters.

A slogan baseball cap displayed in a Greenland town reflects opposition to U.S. influence

A “Make America Go Away” baseball cap, distributed for free by Danish artist Jens Martin Skibsted, is arranged in Sisimiut, Greenland, on March 30, 2025.(Juliette Pavy/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

FROM CARACAS TO NUUK: MADURO RAID SPARKS FRESH TRUMP PUSH ON GREENLAND

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Monday that Trump’s threats to annex Greenland could mean the end of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

“I also want to make it clear that if the U.S.chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops.Including our NATO and thus the security that has been provided since the end of the Second World War,” Frederiksen told Danish broadcaster TV2.

That same day, Nielsen said in a statement posted on Facebook that Greenland was “not an object of superpower rhetoric.”

Greenland and Danish leaders pose side by side inside the national parliament building in Copenhagen.

Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen stands next to Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen during a visit to the Danish Parliament in Copenhagen on April 28, 2025.(Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images)

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White House deputy chief of staff for policyStephen Miller doubled downon Trump’s remarks,telling CNNin an interview on Monday that Greenland “should be part ofthe United States.”

CNN anchor Jake Tapper pressed Miller about whether the Trump administration could rule out military action against the Arctic island.

“The United States is the power of NATO.For the United States to secure the Arctic region, toprotect and defend NATOand NATO interests, obviously Greenland should be part of the United States,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.