Denmark, Greenland leaders head to Berlin, Paris to shore up support over Trump crisis

By Stine Jacobsen

COPENHAGEN, Jan 27 (Reuters) – The prime ministers of Denmark and Greenland said on Tuesday they would visit Berlin and Paris to shore up support over U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent push to take over the Arctic island that has been Danish territory for centuries.

The U.S. demand for control of Greenland has shaken transatlantic relations and accelerated European efforts to reduce dependence on the United States, even as Trump last week withdrew tariff threats and ruled out taking Greenland by force.

Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen and Greenland’s Jens-Frederik Nielsen will meet German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday and French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday, official schedules showed.

FRANCE PLEDGES EUROPEAN SOLIDARITY

Frederiksen and Nielsen would discuss “the current foreign policy situation and the need for a strengthened Europe” in their meetings, the Danish prime minister’s office said.

The diplomatic rift between Denmark and the United States, both founding members of NATO, had seemed in recent weeks to threaten the future of the military alliance, although the conflict has since been moved to a diplomatic track.

Macron plans to reaffirm European solidarity and France’s support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Denmark and Greenland, the French president’s office said in a statement.

“The three leaders will discuss security challenges in the Arctic and the economic and social development of Greenland, which France and the European Union are ready to support,” the Elysee statement said.

Frederiksen and Nielsen will also attend the Welt Economic Summit in Germany on Tuesday.

Trump said last week he had secured total and permanent U.S. access to Greenland in a deal with NATO, whose head said allies would have to step up their commitment to Arctic security to ward off threats from Russia and China.

Denmark and Greenland have said they can discuss a wide range of topics with the United States but are demanding respect for their “red lines” on sovereignty and territorial integrity.

(Reporting by Stine Jacobsen, editing by Terje Solsvik and Alex Richardson)