While Ole Jørgen Hammeken was sailing the seas deep inside the Arctic Circle, the Inuit elder discovered an old, crumpled business card in the pocket of his sealskin coat. , this business card has survived nearly a decade of blizzards and storms. It belongs to Donald Trump Jr.
Trump Jr. met Hameken in 2016 and hoped the Greenland resident and veteran polar explorer would take him bow hunting musk oxen on the island’s northernmost tip. But the trip fell through when his father ran for president of the United States.
Now, almost a decade later, the Trumps are back in Greenland.
Trump Jr. arrived in the capital Nuuk this week for a surprise five-hour visit, shortly after Donald Trump, who is set to become president again, said he wanted to buy the island, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. But was rejected.
It has plunged this vast snow-covered land, home to 57,000 residents in some of the coldest and most remote corners of the world, into a geopolitical storm. EU leaders have been grappling with perceived territorial threats from their NATO allies.
In Nuuk, where temperatures are below zero most of the year and winter daylight hours are short, Trump’s comments unnerved many. Several Nuuk residents said Greenlanders tend to shy away from conflict in their daily lives and were alarmed by Trump’s aggressive tone.
“For some people, it’s scary,” Hameken said.
Former Greenland Prime Minister Kupik Kleist said many people were offended. They don’t like their home country being discussed like a real estate deal.
“You don’t just buy a country or its people,” Kleist said.
But Hameken sees a positive side to Trump’s interest in the island.
Hameken said many Greenlanders are familiar with the president-elect’s style and know not to take him literally. They are pleased that he has thrust the issue of Greenland’s future into the global spotlight.
“Now Denmark must listen,” Hameken said.
Greenland, which was colonized by Denmark in the 18th century, has long lobbied for greater autonomy. Although it is now an autonomous territory of Denmark and has decision-making power on most issues except foreign and security policy, all Greenlanders interviewed by the Financial Times in Nuuk said they wanted more political control.
“Nobody here wants to be part of the United States, but they do want to have more influence over things,” said Beauret Nielsen, a mining consultant in a cluster of small towns and settlements on Greenland’s east coast.
Nilsson was in a café near Nuuk’s old colonial port area, where a statue of a Danish-Norwegian missionary is often doused with paint by protesters.
Regardless, “Trump has caused a lot of things,” Nelson said. “Denmark must listen more to Greenland. We have been calling for this for a long time.
The Greenlanders gave many reasons for wanting to escape Danish rule. Some described their own experiences of discrimination, while others spoke of inequalities in pensions and wages between Greenlanders and Danes, or differences in the provision of services such as higher education and health care.
Most importantly, however, citing recent revelations that Danish doctors implanted IUDs on thousands of Inuit women in the 1960s without their consent, Greenland Prime Minister Mute Múte Egede described this act as a “genocide”.
As Trump’s comments played on a loop on a newscaster in central Nuuk on Friday, Egged told a news conference that the island did not want to become part of the United States or Denmark. It wants independence.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen responded that this was “legitimate and understandable”.
Hameken said the exchange showed that “the balance between Greenland and Denmark has changed dramatically in the past few days” thanks to Trump.
But many Greenlanders believe the island does not have a strong enough economy to simply cut ties with Copenhagen and go it alone. The issue is expected to dominate the next election in the spring.
“When people talk about independence, I don’t fully understand what it means,” said Nuuk musician John Hansen. Although Hanson feels strongly about his local identity – Hanson has compiled a book of Greenlandic poems and songs – the artist says supporters of independence have no plan.
Greenland, the world’s largest island, remains financially dependent on Denmark, with 53% of its budget in 2024 coming from direct grants from Copenhagen. “How to replace it is a mystery to me,” Kleist said.
“We now only live off the sea and a little bit of tourism,” he said. Fishing accounts for 90% of Greenland’s exports, and the industry is the second largest employer after the state.
Nielsen said Greenland was “too small and too fragile” and that other areas needed to be “strengthened”.
Greenland business people say mining should be one of them.
Although many international companies have mining licenses and the island is rich in valuable rare earth minerals, few projects have come to fruition due to government regulations and logistical challenges posed by the terrain.
Trump’s comments have boosted the share prices of some local mining projects in recent days, with one industry insider describing a “gold rush” feeling in the air.
In Nuuk’s snow-covered harbor, small fishing boats and trawlers carved a passage out to sea through chunks of ice floes, and fishermen chuckled at the idea of joining the United States. But they say there is value in diversifying Greenland’s trade.
“On the fishing side, we are thinking about selling to the United States, not just Denmark,” Pavia Rasmussen said over a breakfast of raw seal meat in the clubhouse next to the pier. “We think this may mean better prices for fish.”
Niels, another fisherman, said more trade freedom could also mean cheaper food imported from the United States. “Food in Denmark is very expensive.”
Climate change is making Greenlandic fishermen’s jobs more difficult, these people say. They’ve weathered bad weather and long winter nights. Ulrich, the head of a trawler and fish processing plant, said melting ice caps are now affecting fish supplies.
The same climate change is opening Arctic waters to more navigation, sparking competition for natural resources. Ulrich believes that Greenland is caught in Trump’s “Great Game with Russia and China.”
Trump cited U.S. national security as the main reason he wanted Greenland, home to a major U.S. military base.
Greenlanders who want independence say they realize the island cannot defend itself. But they believe military support and trade deals could come from many sources.
“Greenland is at a stage where it wants to have a choice,” the former government official said, adding that politicians were “courting” many countries, including negotiating with Britain.
Trump Jr.’s visit to Nuuk this week lasted only a few hours but left residents talking for days. Local media reported that some people wearing “Make America Great Again” hats at the conference were attracted by the promise of free food from an expensive restaurant.
But even the local coordinator of the trip — Jørgen Boassen, a Greenlandic bricklayer and Maga fan who made house calls for Trump in the U.S. during the campaign — told Norwegian outlet VG that Trump Trump’s remarks about wanting to buy Greenland should be “treated with caution.”
It’s about the message it sends.
“He’s here to show Russia and China that Trump is here,” he said.
