Jens-Frederik Nielsen, prime minister of Greenland, Copenhagen, Denmark, January 15, 2026. ANDERS HOLST FOR LE MONDE
Following a day full of twists and turns, the relief was palpable on Thursday, January 22, in both Nuuk and in Copenhagen. On the previous day, Donald Trump – who was attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland – had reversed course. Not only did Trump state that he would not use force to seize Greenland, but after a meeting with Mark Rutte, the secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the billionaire president did not reiterate his ambition to acquire the Arctic island of 56,600 inhabitants, either.
In both Denmark and in Greenland, caution prevails. Indeed, many uncertainties continue to linger regarding Trump’s conversation with Rutte and the motivations behind his change of heart. On Thursday, the American president declared that he had obtained “total” and permanent access to the Danish autonomous territory as part of a framework agreement involving NATO to counter threats from Russia and from China. “There’s no end, there’s no time limit,” he insisted. The day before, he had claimed that the agreement included “mineral rights” and his project for an anti-missile shield called the Golden Dome.
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