Danish PM pledges to support Greenland against Trump pressure

By Tom Little and Louise Rasmussen

NUUK, Greenland (Reuters) -Denmark's prime minister pledged to support Greenland against U.S. President Donald Trump's expressions of interest in acquiring the Danish semi-autonomous territory as she landed in Nuuk on Wednesday for talks with its incoming government.

Mette Frederiksen began her three-day trip to the vast Arctic island less than a week after a visit to the territory by U.S. Vice President JD Vance drew a frosty reception from authorities in Denmark and Greenland.

"The U.S. shall not take over Greenland. Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders," Frederiksen told reporters in the capital Nuuk soon after her arrival.

The Danish leader said she wanted to support Greenland "in a very, very difficult situation".

Ahead of her visit she had said she aimed to strengthen Copenhagen's ties with the island and emphasised the importance of respectful cooperation at a time of what she described as "great pressure on Greenland".

Greenland's incoming Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, who won last month's parliamentary election and will form a coalition government, has welcomed Frederiksen's trip, saying that Denmark remains "Greenland's closest partner".

Frederiksen promised to do what she could to ensure equal rights to Greenlanders and Danes within the Danish realm.

"Most of all, we need to discuss the foreign and security policy situation, geopolitics, and how we approach this very, very difficult task together because that is what it is all about now."

Nielsen's new coalition is expected to formally take office on April 7.

Relations between Greenland and Denmark have been strained after revelations in the past few years of historical mistreatment of Greenlanders under colonial rule. Trump's interest in controlling Greenland, part of a growing international focus on competition for influence in the Arctic, has prompted Denmark to step up efforts to improve relations with the island.

Nielsen told Reuters late on Monday that Greenland would strengthen its ties with Denmark until it could fulfil its ultimate wish to become a sovereign nation.

'RESPECTFUL'

Meanwhile, Greenland wishes to establish a "respectful" relationship with the United States, he said.

"Talking about annexation and talking about acquiring Greenland and not respecting the sovereignty is not respectful. So let's start by being respectful to each other and build up a great partnership on everything," he said.

Frederiksen's visit is primarily about signalling support at a time of intense scrutiny, said Ulrik Pram Gad, an academic at the Danish Institute for International Studies.

"It is important for Denmark to signal to Greenland that Denmark is Greenland's closest friend and ally - and to the U.S. that it stands behind Greenland," he said.

During his visit to a U.S. military base in northern Greenland last Friday, Vance accused Denmark of not doing a good job of keeping the island safe and suggested the United States would better protect the strategically-located territory.

Frederiksen, who has said it is up to the people of Greenland to decide their own future, called Vance's description of Denmark "not fair".

Opinion polls show that a majority of Greenland's 57,000 inhabitants support independence from Denmark, but many oppose seeking independence too quickly, fearing their island could become worse off and expose itself to U.S. interests.

(Reporting by Tom Little in Nuuk, Louise Breusch Rasmussen and Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen, additional reporting by Terje Solsvik in Oslo and Anne Kauranen in Helsinki, editing by William Maclean, Gareth Jones and Jane Merriman)