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 simple to overlook even essentially 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 trying 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 grew to become 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 dealing with an assault on Greenland’s sovereignty by President Trump, who desires to amass 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 advised me he was having none of it. “That’s a pink 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, although 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 advised me that President Trump, in non-public conversations, bolstered his want to “purchase” Greenland, not invade it. (The White Home didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.)
Once I shared that with Nielsen, he regarded annoyed, however not stunned. “That’s not acceptable,” he mentioned. “We won’t give it away. However by way of extra army personnel, and by way of extra cooperation and so forth, let’s discuss. Let’s have a dialog about it. We are able to 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 title, both, although Trump has claimed that their intrusion into the Arctic underpins his want for Greenland. As a substitute, Rubio supplied a extra conciliatory tone than allies have grown used to. Finally 12 months’s convention, Vice President J. D. Vance was met with stony silence after he prompt the “best risk looming over Europe comes not from China or Russia” however slightly the “inside risk” throughout 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 at all times 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 “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 advised reporters on the White Home final month.
Nielsen, who labored as a real-estate agent earlier than coming into politics in 2020, sees it in a different way. “It’s a matter of worldwide legislation and sovereignty,” he advised 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 delight 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 trying to spend money on the island’s ample pure sources, which Nielsen welcomes so long as the approaches are coordinated together with his authorities. Tourism has spiked. As soon as an economic 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. A much 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.” A lot of the discussions about Greenland’s sovereignty, Nielsen advised me, have been performed both by means of direct talks with the Danish authorities or by means of 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 apart 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 concerning the issues he has about safety,” Nielsen mentioned. “We need to discuss.” And with that, he turned to the subsequent in line.
