Lars Lokke Rasmussen votes, as municipal and regional elections are held in Denmark, in Gribskov-Hallen, Graested, Denmark, November 18, 2025. Keld Navntoft/Ritzau Scanpix/via REUTERS
President Donald Trump has made no secret of his desire for the U.S. to acquire Greenland as a new American territory. In response to this renewed pressure, Denmark, which currently controls Greenland as an autonomous territory, has set up a new "night watch" program to keep tabs on Trump's public comments.
News of this program first emerged in the Danish newspaper, Politiken. The outlet reported that Denmark's foreign ministry now has a team working a 5 p.m. to 7 a.m. night shift monitoring any public statements Trump might make about Greenland, designed to account for the time difference between the country and the U.S. Any time that Trump makes a statement containing the word "Greenland," it is added to a report presented to officials in the morning.
This night watch program has reportedly been in operation since the spring. Speaking with Newsweek about the program, Rasmus Sinding Søndergaard, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, said that Danish officials remain extremely concerned about Trump's overtures concerning Greenland, and may be looking to stall in hopes of a Democratic win in the 2026 midterms.
“Denmark is currently trying to play for time, hoping that this will fizzle out and that maybe a democratic win in the US midterms might stifle Trump's ambitions to take Greenland," Søndergaard explained.
Greenland is a snowy island territory situated in the Arctic Ocean northeast of Canada. Experts have suggested that Greenland's rich supply of important minerals, including rare-earth minerals that Trump has been fixated on securing during his second term.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen has warned U.S. officials against Trump's Greenland posturing, and Danish officials have repeatedly insisted the territory is "not for sale." Trump has previously attempted to claim that Greenland residents want to join the U.S., despite an overwhelming 85 percent of Greenlanders opposing the idea. The president has also stated that he does not rule out the use of military action or economic pressure to coerce Denmark into ceding control of Greenland, which put Danish officials on even higher alert.