President Donald Trump escalated his push to bring Greenland under U.S. control on Friday, January 16, 2026, suggesting he could slap tariffs on nations that do not comply with Washington’s Arctic ambitions, according to AP News. Speaking at the White House, he said the move as a matter of national security, though he didn’t name specific countries or products that might be hit.
The comments came as a bipartisan U.S. congressional delegation traveled to Copenhagen to hold talks with Danish and Greenlandic lawmakers with the aim of dialing down tensions and reassuring alliance ties.
Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, said the aim was to “lower the temperature” and avoid lasting damage to ties with Denmark, AP reported.
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called on Trump to stop what she described as threats to seize Greenland, citing the semiautonomous territory is “not for sale,” Reuters reported.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen also dismissed the idea, referring to Trump’s comments as misleading and disrespecting, Reuters added.
Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said, in remarks from Brussels, that the debate should transcend one island. The allies, he stated, have to address security across all of the High North—through Iceland, the Nordic countries, Canada, and the United States—as competition and military activity heat up in the Arctic, according to a NATO transcript.
Back home, Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, who had traveled with the delegation, said Greenland should be viewed as a partner and not as a possession. “Greenland should be viewed as our ally, not as an asset,” Murkowski said, noting that broad opposition to acquiring the territory existed among Americans, PBS NewsHour reported.
Greenland is an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, and its fate has always been a decision for the Greenlanders themselves and the Danish. Its strategic position, nestled between North America and Europe, together with an existing U.S. military presence and new interest in Arctic shipping lanes and minerals, has kept it a hot spot in world affairs. Trump’s renewed pressure drags these security debates into the open political fray among the NATO allies as both the Danish and Greenlandic leaders insisted that sovereignty is simply not up for negotiation.
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