The New York Times tells a story in which the future Prime Minister of Denmark defended a young group of immigrants when she was in high school. That situation exactly parallels the conflict she now faces with Donald Trump.
Trump has candidly expressed his desire for Greenland, and his willingness to cross any lines to fulfill this. Despite months of rising tensions between the two leaders, Ms. Frederikian has remained steady in her position: Denmark will not surrender to bullies.
Greenland has the power to drastically affect the global standing of Denmark. Greenland, being 98% of Denmark’s land, maintains the country's stance as the 12th largest sovereign state and grants access to the Arctic Council. It has even, historically, kept great relationships with the United States. A relationship that is now threatened.
Ms. Frederikian has made it expressly clear that she admires the US for their role in ending WW2. She says she will do “whatever I can to keep us together in this world.” Frederikian is managing the careful scale between the interest of her people and antagonizing the US.
Since taking the position of prime minister in 2019, Ms. Frederiksin has managed issues like this with admirable grace. During covid she managed public services and maintained relatively low infection rates. When Russia ordered an attack on Ukraine, she was one of the first to commit F-16 fighter jets to the Ukrainian military, and continuously called Europe to action. In September, she visited Greenland and publicly apologized for Danish doctors forcing contraception on young girls and women. Her only point of controversy was harsh immigration laws, planning to utilize camps and family separation, but has been praised for significantly reducing Denmark’s immigrant arrivals. These activities have placed her in a prime spot to win a third term at elections later this year.
She has managed Mr. Trump with the same resolve and candor. After losing the Nobel Peace Prize, he has claimed that peace is trivial and he will continue to push ahead on Greenland. The president’s latest compromise involves establishing American sovereign military bases on the island. Ms. Frederikian insists that sovereignty is a “red line”. As a response, she has imported Danish, British, German, French, and Icelandic troops to defend the island. Her international strategy puts Mr. Trump in a problematic situation. To take the island by force, he would be imprisoning British, French, and German officers–a line he would have to consider crossing.
“The future of Greenland belongs to the Greenlandic people,” she says in a New York Times interview. In such a time of uncertainty, we should all take inspiration from the Danish leader, whose grace and persistence are guiding us through a significant world conflict.
Works Cited
Fix, Liana, and Benjamin Harris. “Everything but Territory: Europe’s Response to Trump’s Greenland Threats.” Council on Foreign Relations, 16 January 2026, https://www.cfr.org/articles/everything-territory-europes-response-trumps-greenland-threats. Accessed 1 February 2026.
“Greenland will not give in, PM says, as Denmark warns world order as we know it is over.” CNBC, 28 January 2026, https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/28/greenland-trump-nato-denmark-security-defense.html. Accessed 1 February 2026.
Hernandez, Joe. “How large is Greenland, really? Your map may be deceiving you.” NPR, 7 January 2026, https://www.npr.org/2026/01/07/nx-s1-5668482/greenland-mercator-map-size-distortion. Accessed 1 February 2026.
“Norwegian leader says he received Trump message that reportedly ties Greenland to not receiving Nobel Peace Prize.” PBS, 19 January 2026, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/norwegian-leader-says-he-received-trump-message-that-reportedly-ties-greenland-to-nobel-peace-prize. Accessed 1 February 2026.
Tekeli, Maya, and Jeffrey Gettleman. “The Woman Who Stands Between Donald Trump and Greenland.” The New York Times, 28 January 2026, https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/25/world/europe/mette-frederiksen-denmark-greenland.html. Accessed 1 February 2026.