Ole Jørgen Hammeken was at sea far inside the Arctic Circle when an Inuit elder found a crumpled old business card in the pocket of his sealskin coat that had survived nearly a decade of blizzards and storms. It belonged to Donald Trump Jr.
The younger Trump met Hammeken in 2016, hoping the Greenland resident and veteran polar explorer would take him muskox hunting with a bow and arrow in the island’s far north. But then his father ran for president of the US and the trip fell through.
Now, nearly a decade later, the Trumps are back Greenland.
Trump Jr landed in the capital Nuuk for a surprise five-hour visit this week, shortly after Donald Trumpwho would become US president again, said he wanted to buy the island — which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark — and refused to rule out the use of military force to do so.
It threw the vast, ice-covered country, whose 57,000 people live in some of the coldest and most remote corners of the world, into a geopolitical storm. The leaders of the EU had a hard time responding to the obvious territorial threat from NATO allies.
In Nuuk, where temperatures are below freezing for much of the year and daylight is short in winter, Trump’s comments were unsettling for many. Several Nuuk residents said Greenlanders avoided conflict in their daily lives and were shocked by Trump’s aggressive tone.
“It was scary for some,” Hammeken said.
Many people were offended, said Kuupik Kleist, the former prime minister of Greenland. They did not enjoy their homeland being referred to as a real estate business.
“You can’t just go and buy the land or its people,” Kleist said.
But Hammeken believes there is an upside to Trump’s interest in the island.
Many Greenlanders are familiar with the style of the newly elected president and know that he should not be taken literally, Hammeken said. They are happy that he pushed the issue of Greenland’s future into the center of world attention.
“Now Denmark has to listen,” Hammeken said.
Colonized by Denmark in the 18th century, Greenland has long lobbied for greater self-government. Although it is now an autonomous Danish territory and has the power to decide on most topics except foreign and security policy, all Greenlanders who spoke to the FT in Nuuk said they wanted more political control.
“No one here wants to be part of the US, but they want more influence over things,” said Bolette Nielsen, a mining consultant from a small cluster of towns and villages on Greenland’s east coast.
At a cafe near the old colonial port of Nuuk, where a statue of a Danish-Norwegian missionary towers over the fjord and is regularly doused in paint by protesters, Nielsen said Greenland’s biggest political divide is between those who want more autonomy as part of Denmark, and those who they believe that Greenland is capable entirely on its own.
Either way, “Trump has set a lot in motion,” Nielsen said. “Denmark will have to listen to Greenland much more. We have been crying out for this for so long.”
The Greenlanders gave many reasons for wanting to shake off Danish rule. Some described personal experiences of discrimination, while others talked about disparities in pensions and wages between Greenlanders and Danes or differences in the provision of services such as higher education and health care.
Most of all, however, people cited recent revelations that in the 1960s Danish doctors inserted contraceptive IUDs into thousands of Inuit women without their consent, an act described by Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte Egede as a form of “genocide.”
On Friday — while the news in downtown Nuuk was playing Trump’s comments on a loop — Egede he said at a press conference that the island does not want to be part of the USA or Denmark. Independence was wanted.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen replied that it was “legitimate and understandable”.
Hammeken said the exchange showed that “the balance between Greenland and Denmark has changed tremendously in just 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 on its own. This issue is expected to dominate the next election, scheduled for spring.
“When people talk about independence, I don’t fully understand what that means,” said John Hansen, a musician from Nuuk. Despite a strong sense of his local identity – Hansen compiled a book of Greenlandic poetry and songs – the artist said independence advocates had no agenda.
Greenland, the world’s largest island, remains financially dependent on Denmark, with 53 percent of its budget in 2024 coming from direct grants from Copenhagen. “How it will be replaced is a mystery to me,” Kleist said.
“Currently, we live only from the sea and a little from tourism,” he said. Fishing accounts for 90 percent of Greenland’s exports, and the industry is the second largest employer after the state.
Nielsen said Greenland was “too small and too vulnerable” and needed to “strengthen other areas”.
One of those areas should be miningsaid people from Greenland’s business community.
Although many international companies have mining licenses and the island is rich in valuable rare earth minerals, few projects have been realized due to government regulations and the logistical challenges of the landscape.
Trump’s comments have lifted the share prices of some local mining projects in recent days, with one industry insider describing a sense of “gold rush” in the air.
In the snow-covered port of Nuuk, where small fishing boats and trawlers cut their way through chunks of floating ice to get out to sea, fishermen laughed at the idea of joining the US. But they said there was value in diversifying Greenland’s trade.
“In the fishery, we’re thinking about wanting to sell to America, not just Denmark,” Pavia Rasmussen said as he ate a breakfast of raw seal meat in the dockside clubhouse. “We think that could mean a better price for the fish.”
More trade freedom could also mean cheaper food imports from the US, said Nils, another fisherman. “Food from Denmark is very expensive.”
Climate change is making work harder for Greenlandic fishermen, the men said. They are already coping with turbulent weather and long winter nights. Now the melting of the ice caps is affecting the fish supply, said Ulrich, manager of the trawler and fish processing plant.
The same climate changes open the Arctic waters to greater navigation, and thus competition for natural resources. Ulrich believed that Greenland was caught in the middle of Trump’s “big game with Russia and China”.
Trump has cited US national security as the main reason he wants Greenland, where the main US military base is located.
Greenlanders who hope for independence have said they are aware that the island is unable to defend itself. But they thought that military support, as well as trade deals, could come from various quarters.
“Greenland is at a stage where it wants to have options,” the former government official said, adding that politicians were “courting” many countries, including talks with Britain.
Trump Jr.’s visit to Nuuk this week lasted just a few hours, but it got residents talking for days. Local media reported that some of the people seen wearing “Make America Great Again” hats at the meeting were lured by the promise of free food at an expensive restaurant.
But even the local trip coordinator — Jørgen Boassen, a Greenlandic mason and Mag fan who knocked on Trump’s door in the US during the campaign — told Norwegian outlet VG that Trump’s comments about wanting to buy Greenland should be “taken with a pinch of salt.” “.
It was about the message he sent.
“He came here to show Russia and China that Trump is here,” he said.
Cartography by Steven Bernard