Longtime Greenlanders have told the Daily Mail they are furious with President Donald Trump for once again floating the possibility of taking over their country.
Trump revived talk about the United States asserting formal control over Greenland on Sunday, one day after US soldiers captured Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and brought the deposed leader back to New York to face a litany of criminal charges.
‘It’s so strategic,’ Trump told reporters on Air Force One. ‘We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it.’
Jørgen Bay-Kastrup is the CEO of Hotel Hans Egede, a four-star hotel in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital and largest city of around 20,000 residents.
Bay-Kastrup, who has lived in Greenland for the last 11 years, said Trump’s treatment of the people of Greenland has been ‘disgraceful’ and ‘disgusting.’
‘He’s talking about us as if we are just some kind of tool,’ said Bay-Kastrup, who is originally from Denmark. ‘This is disrespectful toward our country and toward our citizens.’
Klaus Iverson, another Danish transplant to Greenland, told the Daily Mail that Trump’s repeated demands to seize the country are ‘offensive’ and ‘bizarre.’
‘It is also a bit scary,’ Iverson said. ‘We have seen what President Trump – I wouldn’t call him President Trump, just Trump – [is] capable of.’
Colorful houses line the snowy coast of Nuuk, the capital city of Greenland. The city has a population of around 20,000
Around 1,000 Greenlanders gathered in March 2025 to protest Donald Trump’s plans to seize the country
The Northern Lights, or aurora borealis, are seen above Nuuk in this file photo
President Donald Trump is once again floating the idea of the United States taking over Greenland, arguing it has to be done for national security purposes
Jørgen Bay-Kastrup, the CEO of Hotel Hans Egede in Nuuk, told the Daily Mail that Trump talks about Greenlanders with no respect
Iverson, a veteran of the Danish military, is in the hospitality business as well. He and his wife run the 32-room Hotel Aurora Nuuk.
‘I have been in Bosnia together with American troops. I have colleagues who died in Afghanistan and Iraq fighting alongside the US troops. So I find it extremely bizarre that Trump approaches Greenland in this manner,’ said Iverson, who has lived in Greenland for the past 17 years.
Both Iverson and Bay-Kastrup bristled at a Reuters report on Thursday that claims the Trump administration is considering giving payments of $10,000 to $100,000 to Greenlanders if they agree to join the US.
‘It’s another kind of slavery,’ Bay-Kastrup said. ‘If you buy the votes, it’s not a democracy anymore. Then it’s some kind of dictatorship.’
Trump has consistently said the US needs Greenland in its possession to ensure national security and international safety, but both men pointed out that the US continues to operate a military base on the island unimpeded.
The US had over 50 bases on Greenland during the height of the Cold War, but that has since waned to just the Pituffik Space Base, which remains a key asset for missile defense and space surveillance.
In recent days, politicians in Greenland and Denmark have hit back at Trump for his public musings of annexation.
‘No more pressure. No more insinuations. No more fantasies of annexation,’ said Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens Frederik Nielsen. ‘We are open to dialogue. We are open to discussions. But this must happen through the proper channels and with respect for international law.’
Greenlanders have staged protests against Trump’s land grab. A file photo from a March 2025 demonstration in Nuuk
Hotel Hans Egede in Nuuk. The hotel’s CEO spoke to Daily Mail and bristled at claims the Trump administration is considering giving payments of $10,000 to $100,000 to Greenlanders if they agree to join the US
Iverson and his wife run the 32-room Hotel Aurora Nuuk. He fears what Trump may do
Secretary of State Marco Rubio revealed Thursday that the Trump administration’s ultimate goal is to purchase Greenland, not to take it over militarily
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has said ‘the US has no right to annex any of the three nations in the Danish kingdom.’
Although Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, it is a self-governing territory that handles its own domestic policy.
But because Denmark remains responsible for Greenland’s foreign policy and defense, any US attempt to annex Greenland would have to be negotiated with Denmark and approved by Greenlanders, likely through some sort of referendum.
A mere six percent of Greenlanders support becoming a part of the US, according to a survey by pollster Verian in January 2025.
Taking over Greenland is not popular with Americans either, with an April 2025 Pew Research poll finding that 54 percent of US adults were opposed to the idea.
On Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he plans to meet with Danish officials next week to discuss Greenland’s future.
Rubio also revealed that Trump wants to eventually buy Greenland instead of using military force.
Rubio’s statement came after White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller refused to rule out a military escalation when asked in an interview.
