ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:
Leaders from Denmark and Greenland will meet with top U.S. officials in Washington this Wednesday to try to find a way out of a crisis caused by President Donald Trump's repeated demands to annex Greenland all in the name of national security. The meetings will take place at the White House, steered by the man many in Denmark see as the most forceful advocate of making the giant island an American one, Vice President JD Vance. From Copenhagen, Adrienne Murray has more.
ADRIENNE MURRAY: Standing side by side, Denmark and Greenland's leaders - in front of the news cameras - were determined to show a united front before talking to the Americans. Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen emphatically rejected any takeover by the United States.
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PRIME MINISTER JENS-FREDERIK NIELSEN: (Through interpreter) Greenland will not be owned by the USA. Greenland will not be governed by the USA. Greenland will not be part of the USA. If we must choose between the USA and Denmark, here and now, we choose Denmark. We choose NATO. We chose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU.
MURRAY: A gloomy atmosphere hung over Denmark's parliament, Christiansborg, where it's been another day of urgent meetings between top politicians and military officers in uniform. Getting on the plane to Washington for Wednesday's meeting will be the Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers. Denmark normally runs foreign policy for Greenland, but these aren't normal times. For Denmark's Lars Lokke Rasmussen, it's time to get back to good old-fashioned diplomacy.
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LARS LOKKE RASMUSSEN: (Through interpreter) Our background for asking for this meeting is to move this whole discussion into a meeting room and look each other in the eye and discuss the matter.
MURRAY: But in Washington, they'll come face to face with a man who caused alarm and dismay during a recent trip to Greenland, where he called Denmark a bad ally - Vice President JD Vance. And they're not likely to see eye to eye, says Ulrik Pram Gad, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute of International Affairs (ph).
ULRIK PRAM GAD: The thing is that the maximalist demand Trump insists on, as long as that's in the air, there is no real possibility of ending the spat because neither Denmark nor Greenlanders, of course, can give away Greenland to Trump. So as long as he insists on the maximalist demand, there is no landing space.
MURRAY: The most recent poll in Greenland on the question suggests only 6% of inhabitants want to join the U.S., while over 85% were opposed. Even members of the political opposition from Greenland, such as Aki-Matilda Hoegh-Dam, say whatever the problems the largely Indigenous population there may have had with the Danish mainland, joining the U.S. is not the answer.
AKI-MATILDA HOEGH-DAM: Right now, we do have a colonizer called Denmark. We do not want to be colonized again by the United States. If we want freedom and prosperity, we have to have these dialogues and a respectful plan.
MURRAY: As commuters pedaled home from work by bicycle, on the capital's snow-covered streets, the mood among Copenhageners is disbelief at President Trump's threats, says Oliver Switton.
OLIVER SWITTON: With Trump's power moves like his ego, and he just acts like a big baby. It's all him, all talk. And, like, maybe just focus on save your own country first before, like, conquering everything else.
MURRAY: For the people of Denmark and its autonomous territory, Greenland, there's a feeling of disbelief and little hope that high-level talks this week will make the problem go away anytime soon. For NPR in Copenhagen, I'm Adrienne Murray. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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