Greenland's future

Danish crisis meeting on the US begins – without Greenland

At 6 p.m., Denmark's foreign affairs committee met under top secret conditions, Danish media report. No mobile phones or even coffee cups are allowed into the windowless security room.

On the agenda is "the kingdom's relationship with the US". This comes after Trump's escalated threat to take over Greenland.

Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen and Chief of Defense Michael Hyldgaard are among those attending. However, no Greenlandic representatives have been invited.

- They are holding a historic meeting about us without us [...] It is a neocolonialist way of excluding us, says Pipaluk Lynge, chairman of Greenland's foreign and security policy committee, to DR.

Analysis: Trump expects no one to stop him – and he is right

Donald Trump knows that no European country would try to stop him militarily from taking Greenland. He also probably expects to get away with it because the rest of NATO needs the US more than the US needs them, writes Deborah Haynes for Sky News.

“Of course, diplomatic charm offensives and behind-the-scenes deals are possible, but the inconvenient truth about Trump’s calculations is that he has a point.”

Trump’s special envoy Jeff Landry is more conciliatory in his tone on Greenland, but Danish TV2’s US correspondent Lotte Mejlhede does not think that matters much.

– I doubt he has any real influence on what happens in the White House.

Denmark’s concerns are justified – Greenland could be next in line, writes Edward Luce in the Financial Times.

The president could take the island unopposed in a couple of hours from his comfortable chair in the situation room. It would be lucrative and go home to his anti-NATO voter base, he continues.

“Trump is becoming increasingly confident in his total control of the US war machine.”

Trump's deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller has made clear the administration's new stance: the US is a superpower and intends to act as one - brute force is the "iron law" that rules the world, writes CNN's Stephen Collinson.

"It's no longer just words. It's action."

Trump's envoy: I don't think he'll take Greenland

Jeff Landry, Louisiana governor and Donald Trump's special envoy to Greenland, does not believe the president intends to take over the island by military means. He said this in a television interview with CNBC according to Danish TV2.

- The president supports an independent Greenland with economic cooperation with the US. I've said that all along, he says.

The US goal is to offer Greenland a "path to independence", he says. When asked whether the US intends to involve the rest of NATO in the discussions, he says that the Greenlanders themselves should be asked.

- Why can't we have a conversation with the Greenlanders without Europe?

Trump himself has said several times that the US “needs Greenland” for national security, and has not ruled out military means.