Trump renews Greenland demand, criticizes NATO allies at Ankara summit

Donald Trump renewed his demand that Greenland be placed under U.S. control at NATO’s summit in Ankara, Turkey, and drew a blunt rejection from Denmark’s prime minister. Mette Frederiksen said Greenland is “of course not for sale,” turning a gathering meant to project allied unity into a dispute over Arctic sovereignty and alliance discipline.

Trump used the summit, held July 7-8, 2026, to criticize NATO allies for resisting his Greenland push and for not backing his campaign on Iran. His comments landed while alliance leaders were also trying to focus on defense spending, support for Ukraine, and Russia’s long-term threat. Instead of a show of cohesion, the summit produced another public reminder that Trump’s territorial rhetoric is colliding with the diplomatic norms NATO members rely on.

Greenland is not a sovereign country. It is an autonomous part of the Kingdom of Denmark, with its own self-government under the 2009 Self-Government Act, which recognizes the Greenlandic people’s right to self-determination. That framework grew out of a referendum held in Greenland on November 25, 2008, and took effect on June 21, 2009. Denmark has said it expects NATO allies to respect both Greenlanders’ right to self-determination and Denmark’s territorial integrity.

The stakes are not only symbolic. Greenland has roughly 56,000 to 56,700 residents, and its vast territory gives it outsized strategic value in the North Atlantic and the Arctic. The United States military’s Pituffik Space Base, formerly Thule Air Base, sits in northwestern Greenland under a defense agreement with Denmark, making the island a key American installation for missile warning and space operations.

The confrontation has repeatedly strained ties between Washington and Copenhagen, both founding NATO members. Denmark said it is prepared to defend Greenland and has reiterated that the island is not for sale. With NATO already under pressure over spending, Ukraine, and the widening challenge from Russia, Trump’s renewed demand ensured that Arctic security and alliance cohesion stayed tied to the same question: whether U.S. territorial ambition can coexist with the sovereignty of a NATO partner.