Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen holds a press conference in Nuuk, Greenland, Jan. 22, 2026.
Marko Djurica | Reuters
Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a press conference Thursday he doesn’t know what’s in the “framework” deal that President Donald Trump announced after meeting with NATO’s leader a day earlier.
But Nielsen stressed that no deal involving Greenland can be struck without the island and its governing kingdom of Denmark having a say.
And any such deal must respect Greenland’s “red lines” — including its sovereignty and territorial integrity, he added.
“We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU. We choose NATO,” Nielsen told the press in Nuuk. “This is not only a situation for Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark, it’s about the world order for all of us.”
The remarks echoed Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s earlier statement maintaining that Greenland’s sovereignty is non-negotiable.
Nielsen’s comments came one day after Trump — who has spent weeks aggressively pressuring Europe over a proposed U.S. takeover of Greenland — abruptly announced that he and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte have forged the “framework of a future deal.”
The announcement, delivered in a Truth Social post following a closed-door meeting in Davos, Switzerland, was light on details. In a CNBC interview, Trump called it the “concept of a deal” and said he would “explain it down the line.”
But the agreement was apparently enough for Trump to cancel the forthcoming tariffs he had slapped on eight European countries that had come to Greenland’s defense amid the president’s saber-rattling.
Trump suggested to CNBC that the framework involves mineral rights for the U.S., as well as the Trump administration’s proposed “Golden Dome” missile defense system.
Meanwhile, The New York Times reported Wednesday that some NATO officials had separately discussed a possible compromise in which the U.S. would get sovereignty over “small pockets of Greenland for military bases.”
Nielsen on Thursday rejected that proposal out of hand, while repeatedly noting that he has not been told what the Trump-Rutte framework entails.
“I don’t know what’s concrete in that deal,” he said. “But I know that we have now a high-level working group working on a solution for both parties.”
“We have some red lines” that cannot be crossed, Nielsen said. “We have to respect our territorial integrity. We have to respect international law, sovereignty.”
“Our integrity and our borders and international law is definitely, definitely a red line that we don’t want anyone to cross,” he added later in the presser. “And I don’t think that is strange at all.”
Nielsen said that he believes those red lines, which were recently relayed to Rutte from Danish and Greenlandic officials, have since “been delivered” to Trump.
But there’s been “nothing about a deal on mineral resources or anything else,” he said.
Greenland is willing to negotiate with the U.S. on economics and other matters, “but that’s something we have to talk about in mutual respect,” he added.
Nielsen also directly criticized the Trump administration’s aggression toward Greenland, including the recent flare-up in tensions that, until Wednesday, included the possibility of U.S. military action.
“No doubt, the rhetoric we have heard the last year is unacceptable for us,” he said, adding that it is difficult to maintain a respectful dialogue when his citizens “every night hear threats about acquiring and taking.”
“Try to imagine how it is as Greenlanders, as people here, peaceful people in Greenland, hear and see in the media every day that somebody wants to take your freedom.”
