Greenlandic lawmakers on Tuesday voted to approve an agreement between the Arctic island, Denmark and the United States to strengthen security in the Arctic and North Atlantic after months of pressure by U.S. President Donald Trump seeking to control the semiautonomous territory of a NATO ally.
He later backed down from any threat. Some 570 kilometers (350 miles) north of Nuuk, Nukaaka Lund-Mathaeussen hoped that the deal’s approval means the Trump administration “got what they wanted. Because he declared U.S. control of it to be vital to American national security, though he also underlined his support for Greenlanders determining their own future, the U.S. president had previously said he would not rule out the use of military force to seize control of Greenland.
“Hopefully after this we won’t be getting underhanded threats from the American government,” the 28-year-old Ilulissat resident told The Associated Press in Ilulissat after the vote. Despite the Greenland parliament’s approval, Lund-Mathaeussen said some residents on the island felt worried and powerless. “What can a regular guy like me do about the diplomatic engine?” the municipality worker said. “It’s a big machine, and being a small person here in Greenland — it’s hard to have any influences on those things.”
The White House had no immediate comment on the vote, but the State Department said it “marks another major victory for American national security. “This administration is securing America’s strategic interests in the Arctic, strengthening our national defense and ensuring this critical region remains free of adversarial threats,” it said in a post on X.
