President Donald Trump has been discussing, for many years, the possibility of the United States acquiring Greenland. He ratcheted up that talk upon returning to office last year, including sending his son, Don Jr., to visit Greenland. Those in the Danish territory, they’ve made clear, want no part of any such change in governance.
Greenland has been mostly off the agenda in recent months, at least until late December, when Trump named Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry “special envoy to Greenland.” And over the weekend, coinciding with the U.S. mission to capture and arrest Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a social media post from MAGA world has brought the story back to the forefront.
Katie Miller, the wife of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, posted an illustration to X, of a map of Greenland with an American flag overlaid over it:
SOON pic.twitter.com/XU6VmZxph3
— Katie Miller (@KatieMiller) January 3, 2026
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The latest threat of a takeover didn’t go over very well in Greenland or in Denmark.
“Just a friendly reminder about the US and the Kingdom of Denmark: We are close allies and should continue to work together as such. US security is also Greenland’s and Denmark’s security. Greenland is already part of NATO,” Jesper Møller Sørensen, Denmark’s ambassador to the United States, said on X, quoting the Katie Miller message.
“The Kingdom of Denmark has significantly boosted its Arctic security efforts – in 2025 alone, we committed USD 13,7 bn that can be used in the Arctic and North Atlantic. Because we take our joint security seriously. And yes, we expect full respect for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark.”
Just a friendly reminder about the US and the Kingdom of Denmark: We are close allies and should continue to work together as such. US security is also Greenland’s and Denmark’s security. Greenland is already part of NATO. The Kingdom of Denmark and the United States work… https://t.co/CboKnlKgJL
— Jesper Møller Sørensen 🇩🇰 (@DKambUSA) January 4, 2026
The prime minister of Denmark, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, also responded, in a message translated into English by CBS News.
“Our country is not for sale and our future is not determined by social media posts,” Nielsen said in a statement translated from Greenlandic. “We are a democratic society with autonomy, free elections and strong institutions. Our position is clearly rooted in international law and in internationally recognized agreements. It stands.”
