The Greenlandic Perspective on President Donald Trump

NUUK, Greenland — Greenland has become a political hot spot in the media, which has heavily impacted the number of tourists and journalists that citizens are seeing daily. Being a territory of Denmark, the question shouldn’t be whether the United States will broker a deal to buy the land, but what the people living there want.

Trump has talked about the desire to buy Greenland since his first term as president in 2019, according to UK Parliament House of Commons Library. This drive has only intensified in his second term, beginning in 2025. He has attempted to reach a deal for the land by putting tariffs on Denmark and other European countries, which he plans to increase in June 2026 if a deal has not been reached, according to the president’s post on Truth social media. He has stated his interest comes from national security measures against Russia and China, while others, such as U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz, have suggested the land for its rare earth minerals.

What the people of Greenland want varies, especially with some expressions that desire for the nation are different from feasibility. While some want independence and for Greenland to have complete and total control over itself, others don’t see it as possible.

“Greenland has always been thinking, ‘We can do [independence],’” Aqqalu Jensen, a Greenlandic fisherman, said. “We just want our land and to control everything. But there are so many mines and oil in Greenland, and there are only 50,000 [people] in Greenland. It’s not so many, and the land is very huge. Also, because of bullsh*t politics.”

Others expressed that it would be beneficial to be independent, but that it would take a lot of time and work to get to a stable enough place for that to work.

“It would mean a lot of Greenlandic people,” Sophie Marie Korniussen, a shop owner in Nuuk, said, “but we’re not ready. We can be ready if we get all kinds of machines, tools, and factories. Maybe in 30 years.”

However, some are satisfied with how life is in Greenland as it currently stands.

“I’m just skeptical about independence because we don’t have money to do it,” Albrecht Damgaard, a blacksmith in Nuuk, said. “And we have free healthcare, free school, and free education.”

Damgaard pointed to this reason as one of many for why he and other Greenlanders do not want to be bought by America.

“I want to say this about Trump and his gang,” Damgaard continued. “There was one time, the vice president wanted to go to Sisimiut, to see the competition with dogs. I was afraid if he came here, a Greenlander would shoot him. So, I was very happy. He didn’t come to Sisimiut. Greenlanders can shoot, and not just in the ear. Somebody in Denmark told me on Facebook that if President Trump comes with an army to Greenland, he will fight against 30,000 Greenlanders who have guns. Personally, I have seven guns. And we don’t need to have a permit for them. It’s natural to go hunting.”

Greenlanders aren’t only against Trump trying to buy them, either. Some expressed disdain towards other big nations such as Russia.

“I don’t like Trump,” Asiarpa Frederiksen-Lund, a small-business owner in Nuuk, said. “I know also many people in America don’t like him, because his thinking is not so good. I think also because of money, like many people. Also, Putin, we don’t like Putin. Putin, [Trump], Netanyahu, we don’t like them.”

Trump’s negotiations for Greenland have not only impacted the Inuit’s perspective on him, but also the Danish perspective.

“I guess [the relationship between the United States and Denmark], it’s just complicated,” Troels, a Danish man living in Greenland Right now, said. “You have a president that I think, at least in Denmark, is the least popular guy. And I guess in Denmark, they are the least fond of him, you know, in all of Europe.”

Troels explained that even before Trump brought up the prospect of wanting to buy Greenland, their perspective on him was already negative.

“Just his view and everything,” Troels said. “I think we see him as kind of a fascist.”

However, Troels also admitted to the complicated and negative history that the Greenlanders have with the Danish, and the harsh colonization efforts that were enforced upon them.

“The art museum, they have a piece about Denmark,” Troels said, “I think, 50 or 60 years ago. About the Danish government, making it impossible for a lot of women to have children.”

Many expressed that they don’t want their way of life to be changed again, especially not by force.

“Stay away from us,” Ilanguaq, a worker at a shrimp processing factory in Nuuk, said. “We are, we are our own Greenlandic people, and we don’t want to become [colonized again].”

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This story is part of a semester-long investigative reporting project into Greenland’s people, history, and culture. It was created by an advanced reporting class in the Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies program at UW-Milwaukee. Other stories from the project are available on Edge of the Arctic: Greenland, the Land of the People.

This work was made possible through the support of MPC Endowment Ltd., the philanthropic affiliate of the Milwaukee Press Club, and a private donor.