NATO is done if Trump invades Greenland, Danish PM warns

“Everything stops” if the U.S. annexes the Arctic island, Mette Frederiksen said.

Donald Trump should be taken “seriously when he says that he wants Greenland,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in an interview with broadcaster TV2. | Olivier Hoslet/EPA

January 5, 2026 6:07 pm CET

By Seb Starcevic

If U.S. President Donald Trump invades Greenland, it will spell the end of NATO, Denmark’s leader warned.

Trump, who last week ratcheted up threats to take over the self-ruling Danish territory in the Arctic, should be taken “seriously when he says that he wants Greenland,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in an interview with broadcaster TV2.

“But I will also make it clear that if the U.S. chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops, including NATO and thus the security that has been established since the end of the Second World War,” Frederiksen added.

Trump has long pushed for the mineral-rich island, which is largely autonomous but part of Denmark and therefore belongs to the NATO military alliance, to join the U.S., calling it a strategic necessity and refusing to rule out using force or economic coercion.

“We need Greenland from a national security situation,” he told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday.

“We will deal with Greenland in about two months. Let’s talk about Greenland in 20 days,” he added, without giving more information about what would happen then.

Trump's latest remarks came after the U.S. launched strikes on Venezuela and arrested its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

The dramatic raid has raised fears in Europe that Washington could feel emboldened to annex Greenland next, with leaders from the Nordic nations to the United Kingdom pledging their support for Copenhagen and Greenland’s right to self-determination.