European Leaders Reject Trump’s Remarks on Possible US Takeover of Greenland

AP, BERLIN, JAN 6, 2026 : European leaders pushed back on Tuesday against US President Donald Trump’s comments seeking an American takeover of Greenland.

The leaders issued a statement reaffirming that the strategic, mineral-rich Arctic island “belongs to its people.” The leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom joined Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in defending Greenland’s sovereignty in the wake of Trump’s remarks. Greenland is a self-governing territory of the Kingdom of Denmark and is therefore part of the NATO military alliance.

“Greenland belongs to its people,” the statement said. “It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”

Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, said on Monday that Greenland should be part of the United States, despite a warning by Frederiksen that a US takeover of Greenland would amount to the end of NATO. “The president has been clear for months now that the United States should be the nation that has Greenland as part of our overall security apparatus,” Miller said during an interview with CNN on Monday afternoon.

His comments came after the Danish leader, together with Greenland’s prime minister and other European leaders, firmly rejected Trump’s renewed call for the strategic, mineral-rich Arctic island to come under US control in the aftermath of the weekend US military operation in Venezuela. Trump has argued that the US needs to control Greenland to ensure the security of NATO territory in the face of rising threats from China and Russia in the Arctic.