Denmark Warns Trump White House on Greenland Spying

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Source: Newsweek

Published May 09, 2025 at 4:44 AM EDT | Updated May 09, 2025 at 11:31 AM EDT


Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said "you cannot spy against an ally" after a news report that the U.S. is gathering more intelligence on Greenland, the semi-autonomous Danish territory that U.S. President Donald Trump seeks to control. Frederiksen made the comment to the Associated Press a day after Denmark—a NATO ally of the U.S.—had summoned the top U.S. diplomat in Copenhagen to explain the report to its foreign minister.

Why It Matters

Trump has shown interest in Greenland, a large Arctic island to the northeast of Canada, because of its significance to U.S. national security and its vast, untapped natural resources. He has said the U.S. will take control of Greenland eventually and has not ruled out military intervention, alarming American allies, particularly Denmark. The U.S. has a military base on the island.

What To Know

The heads of American intelligence agencies were directed to gather more information about Greenland's independence movement and attitudes to the U.S. extracting resources there, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the effort. This instruction came from high-ranking officials under Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, the Journal reported, and included an order to identify people in Greenland and Denmark who support U.S. objectives for the island.

Jennifer Hall Godfrey, acting head of the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen, met with high-ranking Danish diplomat Jeppe Tranholm-Mikkelsen at the Danish Foreign Ministry over the Journal article published on Tuesday. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told broadcaster DR outside a meeting Wednesday with colleagues in Poland that Denmark would summon the U.S. diplomat to seek a "rebuttal" or other explanation following the report.

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/denmark-warns-trump-white-house-greenland-spying-2070030