President Donald Trump arrived at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey on Tuesday and wasted little time reaffirming one of his most contentious foreign policy positions — that Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, should fall under American control. The remarks, delivered in front of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a bilateral meeting, reignited a long-simmering diplomatic dispute between Washington and Copenhagen and injected fresh tension into an alliance already navigating a bruising year of internal friction.
“That should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark,” Trump told reporters during the meeting. The statement was not a new one — Trump has pushed for American acquisition or control of Greenland repeatedly since his first term — but the timing, delivered at the doorstep of NATO’s annual summit, underscored how unresolved the issue remains and how willing the president is to keep it front and center on the world stage.
A Dispute That Has Strained NATO Relations
Trump himself acknowledged that the Greenland standoff has taken a toll on his relationship with the alliance. “That’s what hurt my relationship with NATO, because Greenland doesn’t help Denmark,” he said. “Denmark doesn’t spend money to really help Greenland, but it’s an important part for the United States, and it’s surrounded by China ships and Russian ships, and that’s not going to happen.”
The president went further, tying his frustration over Greenland to broader complaints about European defense spending and what he described as a lack of reciprocal support from allies. “They wouldn’t go along with it, and with all the money we spend to help them with Russia,” Trump said. He also floated the possibility of withdrawing American forces from the continent entirely, warning that Europe had better be careful on immigration and energy policy. “We don’t have to spend any money; we could remove all of our soldiers out of Europe,” he told reporters.
Denmark: “This Is Not Going to Happen”
The response from Danish leadership was unequivocal. Speaking also in Ankara on Tuesday, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen rejected the notion outright and made clear her government had no intention of negotiating on the matter. “It is a well-known position of the United States that it wants to own and take over Greenland,” Frederiksen said. “I hope that it is equally well-known everywhere that this is not going to happen.”
Frederiksen added that she expected all NATO allies to respect the sovereignty of the Danish kingdom and affirmed that Greenland was not for sale. She also indicated that the High North, the Arctic, and Greenland were not on the agenda for discussions in Ankara, signaling that Denmark had no interest in allowing the summit to become a forum for relitigating the territorial question.
Greenland Speaks for Itself
Greenland’s own government weighed in as well. Foreign Minister Mute Egede took to Facebook to state plainly that Greenland’s future was a matter for its own people to decide — not Washington, and not Copenhagen. “That’s how it has always been. And that’s how it always will be,” Egede wrote, while also expressing support for continued cooperation with allied nations.
Greenland, which holds a population of roughly 57,000 people and sits atop some of the world’s most strategically vital Arctic real estate, has consistently and firmly rejected the idea of American ownership or control. The island’s leadership has long maintained that any decisions about its political future rest with its people, a position that has not shifted despite sustained pressure from the Trump administration.
The Strategic Argument Behind Trump’s Push
Trump’s insistence on controlling Greenland is rooted in a strategic calculation that has gained traction within certain U.S. defense and foreign policy circles. The island occupies a commanding position in the North Atlantic, sits astride key Arctic shipping lanes, and has seen increased activity from both Chinese and Russian naval and commercial vessels in recent years — a development American military planners have flagged as a growing concern.
The United States already operates Pituffik Space Base, formerly known as Thule Air Force Base, in northwestern Greenland under a longstanding defense agreement with Denmark. That presence has given Washington significant Arctic capabilities, but Trump has argued it is not enough given what he characterizes as Denmark’s insufficient investment in the territory’s defense and development.
A Running Rift Between Washington and Copenhagen
The Greenland dispute did not begin at this week’s summit. Trump first raised the prospect of the United States purchasing Greenland in 2019, during his first term, drawing widespread ridicule and a firm rejection from both Copenhagen and Nuuk. The idea was broadly dismissed at the time as a distraction, but Trump returned to it with renewed seriousness after winning the 2024 presidential election, making it a stated priority of his second administration.
Since taking office again in January 2025, Trump has repeatedly referenced Greenland in public remarks, and his administration has maintained an active diplomatic channel on the subject. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed as recently as June 2026 that conversations with Denmark and Greenland were continuing on a monthly basis — a sign that, despite the public rejections from both governments, Washington has not abandoned its pursuit.
European Allies Watching Closely
The Greenland flashpoint is only one element of a broader transatlantic strain playing out at the Ankara summit. Trump arrived in Turkey also voicing frustration over NATO’s response to the recent U.S.-led military campaign against Iran, suggesting that European allies — including the United Kingdom — had failed to show up when it mattered. He implied that former British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s decision to stay out of the Iran conflict had contributed to his political downfall, a characterization that British officials disputed.
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves addressed the Greenland question directly while speaking to reporters on Tuesday, aligning herself with the Danish and Greenlandic positions. “The future of Greenland is up to the people of Greenland and of Denmark, and not up to the US president,” Reeves said. “I’ve been very clear about that ever since it was first suggested.”
The Bigger Picture: Arctic Competition
The dispute over Greenland sits within a rapidly evolving competition for Arctic influence. As climate change opens new shipping routes and makes previously inaccessible natural resources more viable to extract, the strategic value of Arctic territory has climbed sharply. Russia has significantly expanded its Arctic military infrastructure over the past decade, while China — despite having no Arctic coastline — has declared itself a “near-Arctic state” and pursued increased commercial and scientific presence in the region.
For Trump, those developments appear to reinforce rather than diminish his conviction that American control of Greenland is a national security necessity. His framing of the island as being “surrounded by China ships and Russian ships” reflects a view held by a number of U.S. defense analysts, even if the diplomatic and legal mechanisms for achieving American control remain, at best, unclear.
No Resolution in Sight
As of Tuesday, no new negotiations or agreements had been announced, and there was no indication that Denmark or Greenland were softening their positions. Frederiksen’s remarks in Ankara were among her firmest to date, and Egede’s public statement from Nuuk left little room for ambiguity about where Greenlandic officials stand.
The issue has, as Trump’s own comments suggest, become a genuine irritant within NATO — an alliance that was already under pressure heading into the Ankara summit over defense spending targets, the Iran campaign, and the broader question of how much European nations can rely on continued American security guarantees. Whether the Greenland question escalates further or returns to the quieter diplomatic track described by Rubio remains to be seen, but Tuesday’s remarks made clear the president has no intention of letting the matter go.