Greenlanders tell us Trump's talk of buying the island crossed a line

• Trump's renewed talks to annex Greenland have sparked concern among locals and European leaders.
• Greenlanders are open to collaborating with the US but opposed to being bought or taken by force.
• European leaders defend Greenland's autonomy, warning against US threats and military action.

If Greenlanders weren't concerned by President Donald Trump's threats to annex the territory in his first term, many of them are now.

In the days since the United States' surprise raid into Venezuela, there's been a renewed focus on Trump's interest in the island, sparking fear among locals.

"I don't know what he's able to do. Most of me is trying to tell myself, 'Don't worry, everything's going to be fine,' but still I'm worried," Tupaarnaq Kreutzmann Kleist, a sheep farmer in South Greenland, told Business Insider's Sarah Andersen on Tuesday.

Casper Frank Møller, CEO and cofounder of Greenland tourist company Raw Arctic, echoed Kleist's concerns, saying that he and many of his peers are worried about how the situation may affect their finances.

"We've made investments into developing our tourism aspects of our company, and it comes with risk now because of the geopolitical situation and the threats by Trump, so of course, yeah, we're all really worried," he told Business Insider on Tuesday.

In a statement to Business Insider on Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that Trump and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue Greenland, including "utilizing the US Military."

A US takeover feels more realistic than ever

Trump's had his sights set on the Arctic island, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, since his first term in office. He has argued that Greenland's location makes it strategically important, as the melting of Arctic ice opens up new shipping routes and intensifies competition with Russia and China. The island is also rich in critical minerals and already hosts a key US military base, which American officials say is vital to missile defense and Arctic security.

When Trump initially raised the topic of buying Greenland in 2019, Greenlandic influencer and engineer Qupanuk Olsen told Business Insider she and other locals thought it was a joke, and said she still didn't take it seriously when Trump resurfaced talks in late 2024.

That changed when Donald Trump Jr. visited Nuuk in January 2025. "That's when we realized that Trump's words were no longer just words," Olsen said in June. "They are real, and he means what he says." Business Insider wasn't able to reach Olsen this week for a follow-up.

In the wake of the raid on Venezuela, Møller said on Tuesday that Trump's threats to annex Greenland feel "much more realistic that it will actually happen" than when he spoke with Business Insider in January 2025.

A country dividing

US interest had at least one positive effect, Olsen said in June: It pushed Greenlanders to think more seriously about their place in the world and the need to speak for themselves.

"It was such a huge wake-up call for everyone in Greenland because suddenly we needed to have an opinion whether we still want to stay under Denmark, whether we should become independent, or whether we should become a state under the United States," she said. "We certainly had options. So those options were helpful in the beginning for the independence movement."

That mindset may be shifting. Kleist said she's worried that "we as the local indigenous Greenlandic people are slowly going against each other now," she told Business Insider on Tuesday. Some want to stand with America, others with Denmark, she said. Ultimately, though, the dream is for Greenland to become its own independent country, she added.

"We want Greenland to be the Greenlanders, and we're not for sale. We are not to be taken over," Møller said.

Naaja Nathanielsen, Greenland's minister of natural resources, business, energy, justice, and gender equality, said in June that she sees much of the American administration's interest in Greenland as an opportunity for collaboration. But she said the way Trump is going about it is wrong.

"I think if we take the temperature down a bit and de-escalate the conflict level and the rhetoric, I think we can, in agreement with each other, find many paths forward that are mutually beneficial for both the US and for us," Nathanielsen said in June. "But we don't appreciate being talked about as a commodity, as something you can buy or sell or acquire or take. That is, of course, offensive to all people."

In an email on Tuesday, Nathanielsen told Business Insider that she stands by what she said in June.

"The people of Greenland find the current situation unsettling, and it causes a great deal of anxiety," she wrote. "We will continuously promote the idea of alliances and partnerships over colonialism. We have had our share of that."

The debate heats up

Denmark, Trump has argued, is not doing enough to safeguard Greenland. "We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security," Trump told a group of reporters on Air Force One on Sunday.

The same day, Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen urged the US in a statement to "stop the threats against a historically close ally." Frederiksen has previously rejected Trump's suggestions outright, telling him that Greenland is not for sale and that any idea of annexation is "absurd."

Frederiksen has warned that any US military action against Greenland would severely damage NATO unity, raising questions about whether the alliance could withstand such a conflict between allies.

On Tuesday, major European leaders, including those from France, Germany, the UK, Italy, Spain, Poland, and Denmark, released a joint statement defending Greenland. "Greenland belongs to its people," the statement said. "It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland."