Five Danish prime ministers and king rebuff Trump and Vance

Autocrat's threats subjected to elephant-sized laughter in Parliament

The Greenland saga continued to dominate Danish news, even as Trump was busy damaging the US and global economies. This week brought a cascade of responses from Danish leaders, while their American counterparts alternated between threats and playing dumb, along with an illuminating glimpse of how a functional democracy handles absurdity.

Last week: Fox viewers draw the line

In the latest opinion poll by Trump-friendly Fox News, 49 percent of Americans were against annexing Greenland and 19 percent were in favor of it. They also opposed acquiring Canada and Gaza, suggesting that even the MAGA crowd wants to limit Trump’s vanity projects.

Jens-Frederik Nielsen, Mette Frederiksen, and Múte B. Egede at press conference in Greenland. Photo: Altinget.

Sunday: You already have 100 percent access

"We'll get Greenland. Yeah, 100 percent," said Trump in an interview, adding that while there was "a good possibility that we could do it without military force, I don't take anything off the table."

Greenland's new Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen shot back:

President Trump says that the United States ’will get Greenland.’ Let me be clear: The United States will not get it. We do not belong to anyone else. We decide our own future.

Former Danish PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt took particular offense at VP Vance's suggestion that Denmark hasn't been a good ally, pointing to Danish troops serving alongside Americans in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya. She highlighted the crucial fact that US officials are ignoring:

There's nothing stopping the Americans from getting more engaged militarily in Greenland, having more bases, if that's what they want…. So the irony is that it's very little that the Americans can't have in Greenland right now without talking about taking over Greenland and all these other things.

Monday: Danish boycotts meet US culture meddling

The Danish response to US pressure took two distinct forms. On the economic front, grassroots boycott movements gained momentum, with Danish tourists canceling US travel plans and Tesla seeing its Danish sales plummet 56 percent from 2024 levels. But while some European countries witnessed violent anti-American protests, Danes notably refrained from attacking Tesla dealerships or staging angry demonstrations.

Meanwhile, a different kind of pressure emerged through diplomatic channels: The US Embassy made an unprecedented demand for Danish companies to sign statements declaring they don't have diversity policies—attempting to export Trump's DEI ban beyond American borders. The Confederation of Danish Industry's response was characteristically measured: they simply referred this attempted cultural interference to EU authorities.

Tuesday: The military shops, the king speaks

While visiting France with King Frederik, Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen announced an agreement to buy several hundred Mistral missiles from France. The Defense Ministry is putting new defense Accelerationsfond to good use: 130 armored personnel carriers from Finnish firm Patria, plus machine guns, jet cannons, anti-tank weapons, weapons stations, and short-range attack drone systems.

When King Frederik X was asked about the Greenland situation, he maintained his royal reserve on political matters while making his position clear: "I have a completely special relationship with Greenland and the Greenlandic people." The week before, prodded to react to Trump's claims, he said, "We live in a changed reality. There should be no doubt about my love for Greenland."

Wednesday: Economic fallout, Siumut revives

US officials expressed dismay that the European Commission's ReArm program favors European weapons producers over US firms. After decades of US presidents nagging NATO allies to increase defense spending, European leaders are now emphasizing the need to build up their own defense industry rather than rely on their untrustworthy former supplier.

"You cannot annex another country, not even with an argument about international security."
—Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen

Trump's misnamed "Liberation Day" arrived with its 20 percent tariffs on EU goods. The Danish C-25 index tumbled nearly 3 percent, matching global market slides. The tariffs threaten to reduce Danish exports by DKK 38 billion (USD 5.5 billion) and eliminate 13,000 jobs. Yet Finance Minister Nicolai Wammen maintained Denmark’s economic resilience. One bright spot: pharmaceuticals are exempt. Led by Novo Nordisk's Ozempic bonanza, pharmaceutical firms drove 18 percent of exports and half of Danish economic growth.

Greenland reported local election results. After disrupting the constitution of the new government and local campaigns, the US delegation at least let Greenlanders vote in peace. The outcome was somewhat surprising: Siumut, the big loser in parliamentary elections, won the most votes—34 percent—followed by Demokraatit at 25 percent, IA down to 21 percent from 37 percent in 2021, and Naleraq at 11 percent. Siumut secured control in three of five municipalities, though turnout hit a 20-year low, 20 points below parliamentary elections.

Thursday: Sovereignty, ready cash, less sovereignty

While visiting Greenland to signal support and cooperation, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen held a press conference with Greenland's incoming and outgoing PMs on a patrol ship. Her message was more pointed than before:

[W]hen you demand to take over part of the Kingdom's territory, when we are subjected to pressure and threats from our closest allies, what are we to believe about the country we have admired for so many years? You know us, you know what we stand for, and you know we will not give up.

She then translated a key line into English: "You cannot annex another country, not even with an argument about international security."

Although Greenland wasn’t on the agenda at the NATO meeting in Brussels, Foreign Minister (and former prime minister) Lars Løkke Rasmussen got hold of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to tell him:

These continuous statements from the American president with an ambition to take over Greenland are in no way sustainable. It has reached a level where it is not in accordance with international law and where it challenges our sovereignty.

Rubio, who had earlier issued a bland statement “confirming the strong relationship between the United States and the Kingdom of Denmark,” reportedly "listened closely."

VP JD Vance, seemingly unfazed, declared that the US will protect American interests “come hell or high water,” an apt metaphor, given the rising sea levels from the melting of Greenland’s glaciers. He offered to trump Denmark's support to Greenland:

The thing that I picked up on is they get about ... 60,000 dollars per year per person. … What the president has said is we could give the people of Greenland way more money than that.

Oops, wrong currency, Mr. Venture Capitalist. Denmark’s block grant to Greenland of DKK 3.4 billion comes to 60,000 kroner per person (USD 8,500), so Vance’s “way more money” would be an overbid of more than 1,000 percent.

Despite tensions over Greenland, Denmark’s Socialist People’s Party (SF) dropped its objection to a defense agreement with the US allowing US troops to operate military bases in Denmark. The government had presented the plan in 2022, when the US president wasn’t considering expropriating Danish territory.

Now only two far-left parties oppose the deal, citing Trump’s disloyalty and the cession of some measure of sovereignty, since US soldiers will not be subject to Danish law. SF had requested a clause requiring US observance of NATO’s Article 5. which stipulates member nations’ commitment to collective defense. The US has similar agreements with the other Scandinavian and Baltic nations.

Friday: Somebody tell Trump

At the close of the NATO meeting, Secretary Rubio was asked to comment on Frederiksen’s statements in Greenland:

We will not annex anyone…. It’s going to be up to Greenlanders. The vice president made clear. He’s going to respect the self-determination of Greenlanders.

US Congress and Danish Parliament. WATCH VIDEO.

The last laugh

A month-old video clip went viral after Frederiksen's Greenland visit, showing her and the entire Danish Parliament cracking up in hysterical laughter, apparently at Trump’s assertion that the US will get Greenland. It’s a mashup with a session in 2019 when Frederiksen reported the purchase of four retired circus elephants and a camel. One elephant, it seems, was friends with Ali the Camel.

Besides taunting the troll, the scene highlights an essential difference: a national legislature can still share genuine, apolitical, contagious mirth. The laughs in the US Congress, by contrast, typically follow bitter wisecracks about ”the other side.” A full chamber sharing innocent amusement requires something Denmark still has and America has lost: trust. Although they may disagree, Danish politicians remain on the same team—now even more united by the betrayal of a former ally.