Former United States Ambassador to Denmark Carla Sands said she is convinced that President Donald Trump will acquire Greenland in some form before the end of his second term.
‘It will be under the United States control,’ Sands told the Daily Mail in an interview, suggesting that the island could be the next Puerto Rico by the end of his second term, a territory owned by the United States with ‘rights and representation’ but under American security.
Trump’s rhetoric, she conceded, had obviously upset a lot of people in Denmark and Greenland. But the point was to shake up the status quo.
‘Suddenly, anything is possible, because the paradigm has shifted, the window has shifted, and what is impossible becomes possible,’ she said.
Trump announced a preliminary ‘framework’ deal for U.S. access to Greenland at Davos on Wednesday, pausing tariff threats against Denmark and NATO allies after weeks of escalating rhetoric.
Greenland’s Arctic location, rare earth minerals and potential military bases make it vital to counter Russia and China as ice melts open new routes; Trump calls it essential for NATO security, while Denmark resists full sale.
Greenland would benefit from US control of the nation, Sands said.
‘The United States will be helping them develop, having infrastructure that they so much want, and perhaps having more prosperity in Greenland and less like a welfare state,’ she said.
President Donald Trump gestures after his special address during the 56th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum
Icebergs drift by in Disko Bay on July 16, 2024 at Ilulissat, Greenland.
Former United States Ambassador to Denmark Carla Sands
After meeting with NATO officials on Wednesday at Davos, Trump claimed he had negotiated ‘total access’ to the territory without paying anything.
‘We’re gonna have all the military access that we want. We’re going to be able to put what we need on Greenland because we want it,’ he told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo on Thursday. ‘We’re talking about national security and international security.’
Greenland residents were already floating the idea of declaring independence from the Danish during Trump’s first term, Sands recalled.
But as soon as the Danes began to fear for the future of their hold of the Arctic territory, the government began what she describes as a fierce propaganda effort to frighten the populace from considering independence.
Sands accused the Danish government of running a ‘psyop’ campaign in Greenland to ramp up opposition to the United States.
‘The people in Greenland are now so terrified of the United States. We are now the boogeyman because of what Denmark has done over the last year … these poor people, and they’re, you know, they’re not used to this kind of pressure,’ she said.
Polling on the issue, she said, was incredibly biased as many of the polls were conducted by Danish universities and the Danes
But even many Americans are not enthusiastic about acquiring Greenland, according to recent polling, even as the president’s attention on the issue has escalated.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that just 17 percent of Americans were supportive of the idea with 47 percent against. Thirty-six percent said they were unsure.
But the leaders of Greenland and Denmark have long been upset by the idea, Sands said, citing the aftermath of the White House meeting between Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Greenlandic Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt and Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
President Donald Trump disembarks Air Force One as he arrives at Zurich Airport before attending the World Economic Forum
President Donald Trump shared an image online of him planting a US flag in Greenland as a US territory
‘They understand there’s going to be a process, but they don’t like it,’ Sands said. ‘They don’t agree. So President Trump will use the tools that he needs and the pressure he needs to get done whatever deal he thinks needs to get done.’
Sands cited the prime minister of Denmark’s false promise to President Trump to build up security in Greenland to bolster its defense as one reason that he no longer took Denmark’s leaders seriously.
‘Denmark is like a parent that’s abusing their child. So they’re very torn in Greenland,’ she said. ‘They don’t know what to do they, and they don’t have any experience in stress like this.’
Trump’s renewed focus on Greenland comes as the Arctic has become a front-line geopolitical issue, with the U.S., Russia and China competing over shipping lanes, mineral resources and missile-defence positioning.
Greenland hosts a critical U.S. military base and sits astride emerging Arctic routes, giving Washington a strong strategic interest in its future.
The president kicked of the new year with a renewed focus on the United States control over Greenland, angering European allies and even threatening the future of the NATO alliance after he refused to rule out using the military to take it from Denmark.
But he ultimately walked back his more dramatic threats of military force.
Sands predicted that Trump would continue to use a number of diplomatic tools to acquire Greenland, including the use of economic tariffs.
‘I always thought of soft power in different ways, … but trade, it’s like somewhere in that gray zone of of friendly coercion that is brilliant,’ she said.
