'We cannot be allies' with US if Trump tries to 'take our territory away': Danish official

28 March

U.S. Vice President JD Vance speaks at the US military's Pituffik Space Base in Greenland on March 28, 2025. Jim Watson/Pool via REUTERS

One member of Denmark's parliament is now warning the United States that its bellicose rhetoric toward Greenland won't be tolerated much longer.

Vice President JD Vance visited Greenland on Friday, amid President Donald Trump's repeated insinuations that he wouldn't rule out using economic and/or military methods to take over the island — which is an official territory of Denmark. Vance said during a press conference that Denmark had "not done a good job" in keeping their territory safe, citing China and Russia ramping up their presence in the Arctic. He then suggested that Greenland would be better off if it separated from Denmark and agreed to be a part of the United States.

"What we think is going to happen is that the Greenlanders are going to choose, through self-determination, to become independent of Denmark, and then we're going to have conversations with the people of Greenland from there," he said.

During a Friday interview with CNN host Brianna Keilar, Danish MP Rasmus Jarlov responded to Vance's comments by pointing out that Greenland has actually had the ability to become an independent nation since 2009, but has opted to stick with Denmark instead. And he noted that even though recent elections in Greenland saw a pro-independence party make gains, the residents of the island are still hesitant about being a United States territory.

"Don't mistake the need and the desire for independence with a desire to become American," Jarlov said. "They are very clear that if they should choose between Denmark and the United States, they will choose and prefer to stay with Denmark."

Jarlov further characterized Vance's remarks as "trying to drive a wedge" between the Greenlandic population and Denmark. He added his country was "not happy with Americans going to a fully integrated region of Denmark and ... trying to make an alliance with separatists to try to to take that region."

"How would you react if China went to Hawaii and started a campaign trying to bribe people there to make them become part of China? I don't think any country would accept that," he said. "This is not acceptable behavior from an allied country. And it's really very bad for the Western alliance. We cannot be allies if one country tries to take another country's territory. We are allied with the Americans because we want to be protected from others taking our territory, not because we want allies to take our territory away from us. So it's it's really not something that we can accept."

Watch Jarlov's segment below, or by clicking this link.

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