The Danish government has summoned the American ambassador and threatened to shut down a U.S. consulate in Greenland after a report that the Trump administration was escalating its spying on the island.
“It’s deeply concerning if the U.S. is indeed trying to gather intelligence in Denmark and Greenland, especially if the aim is to drive wedges between us,” Lars Lokke Rasmussen, the Danish foreign minister, told reporters on Wednesday after the Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration had ordered U.S. intelligence agencies to step up their surveillance. “We don’t spy on friends.”
Greenland is an overseas territory of Denmark and President Trump has talked about acquiring the Arctic island since his first term in office. In a recent interview with NBC News, Mr. Trump reiterated that the United States “needs” Greenland for national security purposes — and refused to rule out the use of military force to obtain it.
“I’m not saying I’m going to do it, but I don’t rule out anything,” he said. He promised that Greenland’s 56,000 residents would be “taken care of and cherished.”
Greenlanders, however, are not buying it. A recent opinion poll showed that the vast majority did not want to join the United States. A visit in March by Vice President JD Vance and his wife seemed to backfire and turned even more Greenlanders off.
