Denmark summons US diplomat over alleged influence campaign in Greenland

Denmark’s foreign minister summoned the most senior U.S. diplomat in the country Wednesday after the nation’s public broadcaster reported that Americans have been conducting influence operations in Greenland, the semiautonomous territory that President Donald Trump wants the United States to control.

The Danish outlet said that three unnamed Americans, including two said to have previously worked for Trump, traveled frequently to Greenland to gather information and develop contacts as part of “covert influence operations.”

The broadcaster said one of the men worked to compile a list of names of Greenlandic citizens who support Trump’s plans to take over Greenland.

The report relied on anonymous sources within the Danish government, but the summoning of the chargé d’affaires, or chief of mission, Mark Stroh, suggested that Copenhagen was taking the allegations seriously.

Greenland, part of the Kingdom of Denmark since the early 1800s and rich in minerals, has long been coveted by Trump, who has said that “one way or another,” the U.S. must “get” the geopolitically important territory.

“We are aware that foreign actors continue to show an interest in Greenland and its position in the Kingdom of Denmark. It is therefore not surprising if we experience outside attempts to influence the future of the Kingdom in the time ahead,” Lars Loekke Rasmussen, Denmark’s foreign minister, said in a statement.

“Any attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of the Kingdom will of course be unacceptable,” Rasmussen continued. “In that light, I have asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to summon the U.S. chargé d’affaires for a meeting at the Ministry.”

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told reporters in Copenhagen that “we are looking at this very seriously.”

This is the second time recently that Denmark has called in a top U.S. diplomat to mark its concerns about accusations of American meddling in Greenland.

In May, the Danes summoned the U.S. Embassy’s then acting head, Jennifer Hall Godfrey, after news reports that U.S. intelligence agencies were told to focus efforts on Greenland’s independence movement and the island’s mineral riches.

Greenland holds untapped reserves of rare earth minerals. The White House has said that control of Greenland is imperative for U.S. national security, and the administration seems especially focused on the establishment of a new secure supply chain for the critical materials the West needs to make advanced magnets and chips, used in MRI scanners, nuclear submarines and AI computers.

The U.S. does not have a confirmed ambassador to Denmark, with Trump’s nomination of PayPal co-founder Kenneth Howery pending.

In a social media post announcing Howery as his pick for ambassador, Trump said, “ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.”

“Greenland is an incredible place, and the people will benefit tremendously if, and when, it becomes part of our Nation,” Trump wrote in a subsequent post.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Wednesday.

The Danish Security and Intelligence Service said in a statement that it believes that, “particularly in the current situation, Greenland is a target for influence campaigns of various kinds,” probably aimed at creating discord in the relationship between Denmark and Greenland.

Such influence campaigns could include disinformation or the exploitation of “existing or fabricated disagreements, for example in connection with well-known individual cases,” said the service, which is known by its Danish abbreviation, PET.

The service said that in recent years, it has “continuously strengthened” its efforts and presence in Greenland in cooperation with authorities there.

After the allegations of U.S. intelligence gathering in Greenland in May, Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister, without confirming the report, told The Associated Press: “Of course, you cannot spy against an ally.”