In one of the scariest moments in modern history, we're doing our best at ScheerPost to pierce the fog of lies that conceal it but we need some help to pay our writers and staff. Please consider a tax-deductible donation.
By C.J. Polychroniou for Truthout
Donald Trump’s second presidency has been defined by lawless, fascist actions at home and imperial ambitions and performative militarism abroad. He has threatened scores of countries while depicting Canada and Greenland as part of the U.S. His obsession with Greenland has caused severe strains between Europe and the United States and even prompted several European nations to send troops to one of the world’s largest islands, which has a population of less than 60,000. For an insight on how the people of Greenland feel about Trump’s takeover attempts, Truthout spoke to Malu Rosing, a Greenlandic activist and Arctic advisor.
C. J. Polychroniou: U.S. President Donald Trump has made it clear that he wants Greenland to be part of the U.S. and said on numerous occasions that this was going to happen one way or another. However, in remarks at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, Trump ruled out using military force after it became clear that major European powers were determined to stand up to Trump’s imperial ambitions for Greenland. Can you share with us how the people of Greenland have reacted to Trump’s takeover attempts and why, under the circumstances, they prefer Denmark over the United States?
Malu Rosing: The ongoing threats of taking over Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) from the U.S. president have long been a headache to Kalaallit — the people of Kalaallit Nunaat.
First, in 2019, where Kalaallit, like the rest of the world, thought it was a by-passing thought — an outrageous claim that was laughed off. Second, in December 2024, where the president-elect stated that he wanted Greenland. This time it was taken more seriously as President-elect Trump had just won the presidential election and the world was looking at four more years with him in one of the most powerful positions in the world. He then followed that up by saying that he could not rule out military or economic force.
Further, Trump’s team, which consisted of a group including his son Donald J. Trump Jr. and the now-deceased Charlie Kirk, attempted an unwelcome and insincere charm offensive, walking around the capital city, Nuuk, handing out MAGA red caps, claiming that the statue of the colonizer Hans Egede and the Colonial Harbor was “where it all started.” To be clear, Inuit have lived in Kalaallit Nunaat for thousands of years, centuries before Hans Egede officially colonized the land in 1721.
This blatant insincere approach to the country and its citizens did not go unnoticed by Kalaallit. So, part of the aim was to spread factually wrong statements and push for pro-Trump staged photos from Greenland to make it seem like Kalaallit Nunaat and its people were interested in becoming a part of the U.S.
This is categorically not the case. In fact, Naalakkersuisut, the government of Greenland, has stated time and time again: “We don’t want to be American, we don’t want to be Danish, we are Greenlandic.”
And the population pushed back with soft, yet effective power. Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha Vance planned a visit to Greenland shortly after Trump Jr.’s visit to experience the culture, only to be turned down by every tourist company that was approached to plan their trip. Furthermore, silent demonstrations were planned — the Kalaallit Nunaat population was planning on literally turning its back against the vice-presidential couple to show them and the world that they were not welcome. The Vances never made it so far into the communities; instead they had to deviate from the original plan and only visit the American military base, Pituffik Space Base.
Fast forward to the last couple of months where the rhetoric has become more aggressive. Since the U.S. president restated his wish for owning the country since December 2025, Kalaallit have been mortified by the thought of American military intervention. Some even felt pressured to plan a way to move out of the country in case that scenario came true, as he continuously stated threats of taking the land “one way or the other.”
Kalaallit are no strangers to colonization, as most of the country’s modern history is based on a colonial history with Denmark. This is something Trump has also tried to use as a reason for annexation. But Kalaallit Nunaat and Kalaallit have worked for self-determination, basically since the country was colonized, and have come very far, including legally establishing the current self-ruling government in 2009, which has been steadily governing the country since. The agreement is that Kalaallit Nunaat along with the Danish state will figure out a way for Kalaallit Nunaat to gain more self-determination and potentially independence over time.
Trump is threatening this relationship and Kalaallit Nunaat’s continued path to independence. This has not been popular. In fact, his actions have, in some ways, pushed Kalaallit and Danes toward each other. This became clear when there were massive demonstrations across all of Denmark and in Kalaallit Nunaat, consisting of all groups of the Kingdom of Denmark standing together in unity against the U.S. threats. Moreover, Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen has recently stated that, if Kalaallit Nunaat was forced to choose between Denmark or the U.S., they would choose Denmark.
This is also considering the fact that Kalaallit Inuit people are the Indigenous population of Kalaallit Nunaat and make up just about 90 percent of the entire population. Kalaallit are also very much aware of the living circumstances for the majority of Indigenous peoples in the U.S.
Statistics have shown that Indigenous peoples in the U.S. have a higher percentage of poverty, worse access to health care, and overwhelmingly horrifying statistics on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
What’s the story with Greenland’s rare earth resources, which include, among other elements, iron ore, graphite, palladium, zinc, uranium, gold, and oil? Is there much mining going on at the present time, and under whose authority is it?
President Trump’s reasons to annex a NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] ally are many and have varied over time. One of the reasons he claims is that it is for national and international security, which is a reasoning that does not hold, even at the surface. Kalaallit Nunaat is already part of the NATO alliance as part of the Kingdom of Denmark. And through the 1951 defense agreement, the U.S. already has access to Kalaallit Nunaat for security purposes. So, the U.S. already has all the access needed for whatever security reasons might be knocking on the door.
Some claim that his interests are based in the underground. Kalaallit Nunaat has long been known to contain rare earth resources — 39 of 50 that are deemed critical to the U.S. for their security to be more exact. However, even here, if that was the true reason, the U.S. would have been welcomed by the Kalaallit Nunaat government to invest in mining. According to an annual report from the Ministry for Business, Mineral Resources, Energy, Justice, and Gender Equality (which is the authority on issues related to mining), there is a relatively high interest in mineral exploration in Kalaallit Nunaat, and in May 2025 there were over 87 active permits for exploration. However, there are currently only two active mines — the Nalunaq gold mine in the south and the Lumina anorthosite mine in the west.
So the opportunities are there. What seems to be a challenge unfit for the U.S. president’s temper is the regulations surrounding mining. The general policy in Kalaallit Nunaat is to protect the environment and this is mirrored in the restrictive laws on mining. For example, back in 2021, a political decision was made to suspend the issuance of new licenses for gas and oil exploration due to concerns regarding the environmental impacts from such mining, including the negative impacts it potentially could pose for fisheries, which is a big part of the Kalaallit Nunaat economy, as well as that of exacerbating the risks of the global climate crisis.
Trump has claimed that a deal is in progress that would hand the United States more control over Greenland and, in fact, over the entire Arctic region. Do you have any thoughts you want to share about Trump’s “framework of a future deal” over Greenland?
The U.S. president and the NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte famously held a very private meeting in Davos, following the 56th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, about how the U.S. could gain more control over Kalaallit Nunaat — allegedly. This was not received well either by the Kalaallit or by Danish governments and populations, which were hit with another wave of unease. The worry was that the NATO secretary general was actually negotiating a deal with the U.S., about and without Kalaallit Nunaat and Denmark.
This hit a colonial nerve for Kalaallit and sparked feelings of fear of the risk of losing the hard-earned rights to their land. Later, Rutte came out to make it clear that he has no mandate to negotiate on behalf of the Kingdom of Denmark. In a more diplomatic manner, the Kalaallit Nunaat, Danish and U.S. foreign ministers Vivian Motzfeldt, Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Marco Rubio, respectively, with JD Vance, agreed to establish a high-level working group to find a way out of the pressurized situation. The first meeting has taken place and it is cautiously seen as a good thing that they seem to be on a diplomatic path. But Kalaallit are still concerned about their future, the future of their land, and the future of their independence.
Kalaallit do not want to become a part of the U.S. and Kalaallit will continue to fight for independence, which, as a people recognized by the UN and multiple states around the world, Kalaallit have every right to do. One positive thing that has come out of this is that Kalaallit have shown how to stand together as a people and how to use their powerful, sincere pride and resilience against outside threats. And Kalaallit Nunaat has received worldwide support from fellow Inuit across land borders, and fellow Indigenous peoples from countries near and far.
Kalaallit Nunaat is not for sale and cannot be sold: Kalaallit Nunaat, Kalaallit Pigaat (Kalaallit Nunaat belongs to Kalaallit).
C.J. Polychroniou is a political scientist/political economist, author and journalist who has taught and worked in numerous universities and research centers in Europe and the United States. Currently, his main research interests are in U.S. politics and the political economy of the United States, European economic integration, globalization, climate change and environmental economics, and the deconstruction of neoliberalism’s politico-economic project. He is a columnist for Global Policy Journal and a regular contributor to Truthout. He has published scores of books, including Marxist Perspectives on Imperialism: A Theoretical Analysis; Perspectives and Issues in International Political Economy (ed.); and Socialism: Crisis and Renewal (ed.), and over 1,000 articles which have appeared in a variety of journals, magazines, newspapers and popular news websites. Many of his publications have been translated into a multitude of languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Croatian, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Turkish. His latest books are Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal: The Political Economy of Saving the Planet (with Noam Chomsky and Robert Pollin as primary authors, 2020); The Precipice: Neoliberalism, the Pandemic, and the Urgent Need for Radical Change (an anthology of interviews with Noam Chomsky, 2021); Economics and the Left: Interviews with Progressive Economists (2021); Illegitimate Authority: Facing the Challenges of Our Time (an anthology of interviews with Noam Chomsky, 2023); and A Livable Future Is Possible: Confronting the Threats to Our Survival (an anthology of interviews with Noam Chomsky, 2024).
Editor’s Note: At a moment when the once vaunted model of responsible journalism is overwhelmingly the play thing of self-serving billionaires and their corporate scribes, alternatives of integrity are desperately needed, and ScheerPost is one of them. Please support our independent journalism by contributing to our online donation platform, Network for Good, or send a check to our new PO Box. We can’t thank you enough, and promise to keep bringing you this kind of vital news.
You can also make a donation to our PayPal or subscribe to our Patreon.