In their words: Greenlanders talk about Trump’s desire to own their Arctic island

In their words: Greenlanders talk about Trump’s desire to own their Arctic island 1 of 6 | People in the Greenland capital of Nuuk said they were glad the first meeting between Greenlandic, Danish and American officials had taken place but suggested it left more questions than answers. (AP Video by Kwiyeon Ha) 2 of 6 | A woman walks on a street past a Greenlandic national flag in Nuuk, Greenland, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) 3 of 6 | Fisherman Gerth Josefsen prepares fishing lines at the harbour of Nuuk, Greenland, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) 4 of 6 | Juno Berthelsen, MP for the Naleraq opposition party that campaigns for independence in the Greenlandic parliament poses for photo at his office in Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) 5 of 6 | Military vessel HDMS Knud Rasmussen of the Royal Danish Navy patrols near Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) 6 of 6 | A woman pushes a stroller with her children in Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File) 1 of 6 People in the Greenland capital of Nuuk said they were glad the first meeting between Greenlandic, Danish and American officials had taken place but suggested it left more questions than answers. (AP Video by Kwiyeon Ha) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 2 of 6 A woman walks on a street past a Greenlandic national flag in Nuuk, Greenland, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 3 of 6 Fisherman Gerth Josefsen prepares fishing lines at the harbour of Nuuk, Greenland, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 4 of 6 Juno Berthelsen, MP for the Naleraq opposition party that campaigns for independence in the Greenlandic parliament poses for photo at his office in Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 5 of 6 Military vessel HDMS Knud Rasmussen of the Royal Danish Navy patrols near Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 6 of 6 A woman pushes a stroller with her children in Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year] Nuuk, Greenland (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump has turned the Arctic island of Greenland into a geopolitical hotspot with his demands to own it and suggestions that the U.S. could take it by force. The island is a semiautonomous region of Denmark, and Denmark’s foreign minister said Wednesday after a meeting at the White House that a “ fundamental disagreement ” remains with Trump over the island. A woman pushes a stroller with her children in Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File) A woman pushes a stroller with her children in Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. The crisis is dominating the lives of Greenlanders and “people are not sleeping, children are afraid, and it just fills everything these days. And we can’t really understand it,” Naaja Nathanielsen, a Greenlandic minister said at a meeting with lawmakers in Britain’s Parliament this week.Here’s a look at what Greenlanders have been saying:Trump “undermining” Greenlandic cultureTrump has dismissed Denmark’s defenses in Greenland, suggesting it’s “two dog sleds.”By saying that, Trump is “undermining us as a people,” Mari Laursen told AP. Laursen said she used to work on a fishing trawler but is now studying law. She approached AP to say she thought previous examples of cooperation between Greenlanders and Americans are “often overlooked when Trump talks about dog sleds.” A woman walks on a street past a Greenlandic national flag in Nuuk, Greenland, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) A woman walks on a street past a Greenlandic national flag in Nuuk, Greenland, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. She said during World War II, Greenlandic hunters on their dog sleds worked in conjunction with the U.S. military to detect Nazi German forces on the island.“The Arctic climate and environment is so different from maybe what they (Americans) are used to with the warships and helicopters and tanks. A dog sled is more efficient. It can go where no warship and helicopter can go,” Laursen said. Greenlanders don’t believe Trump’s claimsTrump has repeatedly claimed Russian and Chinese ships are swarming the seas around Greenland. Plenty of Greenlanders who spoke to AP dismissed that claim.“I think he (Trump) should mind his own business,” said Lars Vintner, a heating engineer. “What’s he going to do with Greenland? He speaks of Russians and Chinese and everything in Greenlandic waters or in our country. We are only 57,000 people. The only Chinese I see is when I go to the fast food market. And every summer we go sailing and we go hunting and I never saw Russian or Chinese ships here in Greenland,” he said. Fisherman Gerth Josefsen prepares fishing lines at the harbour of Nuuk, Greenland, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Fisherman Gerth Josefsen prepares fishing lines at the harbour of Nuuk, Greenland, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Down at Nuuk’s small harbor, Gerth Josefsen spoke to AP as he attached small fish as bait to his lines. He said, “I don’t see them (the ships)” and said he had only seen “a Russian fishing boat ten years ago.”Trump is interested in Greenland’s critical mineralsMaya Martinsen, 21, a shop worker, told AP she doesn’t believe Trump wants Greenland to enhance America’s security.“I know it’s not national security. I think it’s for the oils and minerals that we have that are untouched,” she said, suggesting the Americans are treating her home like a “business trade.”She said she thought it was good that American, Greenlandic and Danish officials met in the White House Wednesday and said she believes that “the Danish and Greenlandic people are mostly on the same side,” despite some Greenlanders wanting independence. “It is nerve-wrecking, that the Americans aren’t changing their mind,” she said, adding that she welcomed the news that Denmark and its allies would be sending troops to Greenland because “it’s important that the people we work closest with, that they send support.” Greenlanders get support from DenmarkTuuta Mikaelsen, a 22-year-old student, told AP that she hopes the U.S. got the message from Danish and Greenlandic officials to “back off.”She said she didn’t want to join the United States because in Greenland “there are laws and stuff, and health insurance .. .we can go to the doctors and nurses ... we don’t have to pay anything,” she said adding “I don’t want the U.S. to take that away from us.”Greenland is at the center of a media storm In Greenland’s parliament, Juno Berthelsen, MP for the Naleraq opposition party that campaigns for independence in the Greenlandic parliament told AP that he has done multiple media interviews every day for the last two weeks. Juno Berthelsen, MP for the Naleraq opposition party that campaigns for independence in the Greenlandic parliament poses for photo at his office in Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Juno Berthelsen, MP for the Naleraq opposition party that campaigns for independence in the Greenlandic parliament poses for photo at his office in Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. When asked by AP what he would say to Trump and Vice President JD Vance if he had the chance, Berthelsen said: “I would tell them, of course, that — as we’ve seen — a lot of Republicans as well as Democrats are not in favor of having such an aggressive rhetoric and talk about military intervention, invasion. So we would tell them to move beyond that and continue this diplomatic dialogue and making sure that the Greenlandic people are the ones who are at the very center of this conversation.”“It is our country,” he said. “Greenland belongs to the Greenlandic people.”___Kwiyeon Ha and Evgeniy Maloletka contributed to this report. Burrows covers security, defense and intelligence for The Associated Press in Europe. She is based in London.