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Greenland Business Association CEO On 'Hostile Takeover' Fears
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January 8, 2026
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6:41Now PlayingUS President Donald Trump has said the US should take over Greenland, citing defense needs, and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has refused to rule out the use of military force to acquire it. The comments have sparked a reaction in Denmark and among Greenlanders, with some viewing Trump's plans as a potential opportunity for Greenland to break free from Denmark's control, while others are strongly opposed to the idea. Christian Keldsen is the CEO of the Business association in Greenland and joined Stephen Carroll and Caroline Hepker on Bloomberg Radio to discuss the impact of recent events
Donald Trump’s rationale for decapitating Venezuela’s government is fueling concerns among European officials that they could soon face an existential dilemma over Greenland.
The US president over the weekend explained his decision to detain Venezuela’s leader and have the US run the country as a modern revival of the 19th-century Monroe Doctrine — the “Donroe Doctrine,” as he dubbed it. The principle essentially claims a US right to lead the entire Western Hemisphere, and to control any critical assets within it.
To Trump, that includes Greenland.
He made the connection explicit following the military strike in Venezuela, saying he “absolutely” needs to control the semi-autonomous territory within the Danish kingdom for security purposes. The logic is not just Trump bluster — the White House recently laid it out in a national security strategy. And Trump has now used the policy to justify his audacious intervention in Venezuela, showing just how far he will go.
For Europe and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, that carries titanic ramifications. Trump moving on Greenland would pit the US against other members of the transatlantic military alliance it leads and helped found, tarnishing NATO’s credibility and heaping an unprecedented burden on the European Union to enter the military realm.
“If the US chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops, including NATO, and thus the security that has been established since the end of the Second World War,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Monday night on Danish broadcaster TV2.
Greenland, of course, is not Venezuela, as numerous European officials have been quick to argue. The Arctic island falls under NATO’s collective defense guarantee, which asserts that an attack on one alliance member is an attack on all. The US also has ready access to the island already, maintaining a local military base. That should all, in theory, provide a considerable deterrent against any traditional military assault.
On Tuesday, Frederiksen and a coalition of European leaders, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, emphasized that sentiment in a joint statement.
Arctic security, the statement says, must “be achieved collectively, in conjunction with NATO allies including the United States, by upholding the principles of the UN Charter, including sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders.”
It adds: “Greenland belongs to its people. It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”
Still, Trump’s recent actions have cast his Greenland fixation in a new light.
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