The espresso nook at Lodge Bayerischer Hof in Munich is so mobbed with diplomats and executives exchanging enterprise playing cards and guzzling caffeine that it’s straightforward to overlook even probably the most recognizable faces. And Jens-Frederik Nielsen will not be a type of.
Nonetheless, the baby-faced prime minister of Greenland was surrounded by throngs of individuals seeking to shake his hand, go him their card, or take a selfie with him on the annual Munich Safety Convention, the primary main get-together of European protection and safety officers since his nation turned the middle of a geopolitical melee. Nielsen, who’s 34 years previous, assumed workplace lower than a 12 months in the past however has spent a lot of his time period going through an assault on Greenland’s sovereignty by President Trump, who desires to accumulate or annex the autonomous Danish territory—whether or not its residents need it or not.
Over the thrumming of cappuccino machines and the clinking of espresso mugs, Nielsen informed me he was having none of it. “That’s a purple line,” he mentioned. “We won’t give away territory and compromise our integrity.”
Greenland has been the unlikely belle of the Munich ball as U.S., European, NATO, and different leaders attempt to hash out simply how critical Trump’s threats are. Trump says he has dominated out taking Greenland by drive. However provided that he additionally earlier this 12 months ordered a army raid, with out Congressional approval, on Venezuela to take away its president, nobody right here views the disaster as over, particularly not Nielsen. As I spoke with the prime minister, the White Home launched a collection of satirical Valentine’s Day playing cards—amongst them, one with the map of Greenland inside a coronary heart. The caption reads: “It’s time we outline our situationship.”
Nielsen, with Scandinavian restraint, acknowledged that his nation has confronted “tense intervals” of late. It’s going to virtually actually face extra quickly. White Home officers inform me the president stays fixated on Greenland and is unlikely to again down, regardless that there are actually high-level talks underway about boosting the U.S. army presence there. At this month’s annual black-tie dinner on the Alfalfa Membership (a Washington, D.C. society for muckety-mucks from politics and enterprise), attendees informed me that President Trump, in personal conversations, bolstered his want to “purchase” Greenland, not invade it. (The White Home didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.)
After I shared that with Nielsen, he appeared annoyed, however not shocked. “That isn’t acceptable,” he mentioned. “We won’t give it away. However when it comes to extra army personnel, and when it comes to extra cooperation and so forth, let’s speak. Let’s have a dialog about it. We will determine issues out.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who headlined the convention at this time, didn’t point out Greenland or the Arctic in his keynote speech. He didn’t point out China or Russia by identify, both, although Trump has claimed that their intrusion into the Arctic underpins his want for Greenland. As a substitute, Rubio provided a extra conciliatory tone than allies have grown used to. Eventually 12 months’s convention, Vice President J. D. Vance was met with stony silence after he advised the “biggest risk looming over Europe comes not from China or Russia” however slightly the “inner risk” inside the continent. The Trump administration’s rhetoric and insurance policies towards its European allies since then have largely echoed that sentiment.
Rubio drew applause from the group when he declared that the U.S. “will all the time be a baby of Europe.” Nonetheless, he pressured the necessity to revitalize the alliance. “We in America have little interest in being well mannered and orderly caretakers of the West’s managed decline,” he mentioned, describing the decline as a “acutely aware coverage alternative.”
Revitalization, to the Trump administration, hinges on American dominance within the Western Hemisphere—which incorporates Greenland regardless of its historic ties to Europe. Trump’s description of the dynamic blends the lingo of real-estate recommendation with the imperatives of nationwide safety. “You defend possession, you don’t defend leases,” he informed reporters on the White Home final month.
Nielsen, who labored as a real-estate agent earlier than coming into politics in 2020, sees it otherwise. “It’s a matter of worldwide legislation and sovereignty,” he informed me. The son of a Danish father and a Greenlandic mom (and, because it occurs, a nationwide badminton champion), he talks of deep nationalism and pleasure that can’t be purchased, however pressured that his residents are open to cooperation.
Since Trump first expressed curiosity in Greenland in 2019, the nation of 55,000 has seen throngs of corporations seeking to spend money on the island’s plentiful pure sources, which Nielsen welcomes so long as the approaches are coordinated together with his authorities. Tourism has spiked. As soon as an financial system that relied closely on fishing, Greenland has embraced its unanticipated flip within the geopolitical highlight by constructing infrastructure, together with a brand new airport, which opened within the capital, Nuuk, in 2024. An even bigger diplomatic presence additionally has arrived: The U.S. opened a consulate in Nuuk in 2020, its first since 1953; the European Union, Canada, and France have opened consulates since, the latter two in response to Trump’s renewed threats. Nielsen mentioned he welcomes all of it and extra however added, “We wish cooperation with mutual respect.”
Trump backed down, for now, on his risk to forcibly annex the nation largely due to how poorly his plans have been acquired domestically. A new AP/NORC ballot this week discovered that about seven in 10 U.S. adults disapprove of how Trump is dealing with the problem of Greenland. That included about half of Republicans polled.
Nielsen has by no means met Trump, nor has he spoken with him, although Nielsen met yesterday with Rubio for a dialog that Nielsen described as “constructive.” Many of the discussions about Greenland’s sovereignty, Nielsen informed me, have been performed both by direct talks with the Danish authorities or by NATO—a course of he believes is extra productive. He repeatedly emphasised the progress being made by the working group fashioned after the overseas ministers of Denmark and Greenland met in Washington final month with Vance and Rubio.
Nielsen worries about Greenland’s future being outlined by anybody aside from Greenland and Denmark, together with by well-intentioned allies. However he was eager to supply an olive department to Trump. “We’re prepared to speak additionally in regards to the considerations he has about safety,” Nielsen mentioned. “We wish to speak.” And with that, he turned to the following in line.
