Denmark to deploy additional troops after Trump’s ‘Greenland ambitions’

Denmark’s defence minister, Greenland’s foreign minister meet NATO chief, EU foreign policy head

“Add ‘substantial’ combat forces for military drills”

Urges NATO to “launch a ‘surveillance operation’”

Denmark is reportedly planning to deploy additional forces to Greenland after U.S. President Donald Trump openly signaled his ambitions over the island.

On the 19th (local time), Danish broadcaster TV2, citing Defence Ministry sources, reported that Denmark will send additional combat troops to Greenland. The exact number was not disclosed, but the outlet said it would be “substantial.”

The additional troops are expected to arrive later that day in Kangerlussuaq, about 300 km north of Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, and Peter Boysen, Chief of Staff of the Danish Army, is reportedly set to accompany them.

According to Denmark’s Arctic Command, around 100 troops were dispatched to Nuuk last week, and a similar number of soldiers were also stationed in Kangerlussuaq. The forces were tasked with launching the Greenland military exercise “Operation Arctic Endurance,” led by Denmark with the participation of other North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies.

The move comes as Trump has sought to push NATO to the brink by warning he would impose up to 25% tariffs on exports to the U.S. from eight European countries that opposed Washington’s bid to annex Greenland and sent small troop contingents to the island.

Meanwhile, Troels Lund Poulsen, Denmark’s defence minister, who visited NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on the day, proposed that NATO begin a “surveillance operation” in Greenland. After meeting NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Poulsen told Danish media, “We proposed this, and the Secretary General paid attention to it. Hopefully we can now set a framework for how this can be made more concrete.”

After the talks, Rutte wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that he discussed with Poulsen and Minister Motzfeldt “how important the Arctic, including Greenland, is to our collective security,” adding, “We will continue to work together as Allies on these important issues.”

Poulsen and Minister Motzfeldt also met Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, in Brussels and requested EU-level support for Greenland.

Following the meeting, Kallas wrote on X, “Arctic security is a shared Atlantic interest and something we can discuss with our ally, the United States. But tariff threats cannot be the way to address it,” stressing that while Europe is not interested in fighting with the U.S., it has various tools to protect its own interests.

Park Su-rim, Hankyung.com reporter paksr365@hankyung.com