Almost half of Danish people now consider the US to be a considerable threat to their country and the overwhelming majority oppose Greenland leaving to become part of the US, new polling has found.
The research by YouGov, shared exclusively with the Guardian, comes after weeks of tension between Denmark, Greenland and the US over Donald Trump’s repeated assertions that he plans to take control of the autonomous territory, which is part of the Danish kingdom.
The Arctic island, which has a population of 57,000 people, was formerly ruled as a colony by Denmark, which continues to control its foreign and security policy. Trump’s interest in Greenland comes at a time of growing momentum for its pre-existing independence movement.
The poll of just over 1,000 people in Denmark, conducted between 15 and 22 January, found that 46% considered the US to be either “a very big threat” or “a fairly big threat” to Denmark.
This is higher than the number who said they considered North Korea or Iran a threat – of which 44% and 40% did respectively. But the threat of Russia remains considerably higher; 86% of respondents said they considered Moscow a threat.
Of those surveyed, 78% said they would oppose Greenland being sold to the US, but 72% said the final decision should be Greenland’s, not Denmark’s.
after newsletter promotion
The findings come in a week in which the Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, toured Berlin, Paris and Brussels to shore up support amid Trump’s Greenland threats, after a reportedly “horrendous” call with the US president.
Frederiksen said Europe must unite in the face of changing relations with the US. “I want to ensure that all of Europe stands together. Not only in connection with the kingdom of Denmark but also more broadly,” she said.
She added: “Everyone in Europe can see that it will be a different collaboration with the USA now.”
Trump has said the US needs control of Greenland – and the Panama canal – for “economic security” and has described ownership and control of the territory as an “absolute necessity”. Greenland has long been on his radar as a target for purchase and in 2019 he confirmed reports that he had been urging aides to find out how the US could buy it, describing a sale as “essentially a large real estate deal”.
As well as oil and gas, Greenland’s supply of in-demand raw materials for green technology is attracting interest from around the world, including from China.
An opinion poll published earlier this week found that 85% of Greenlanders did not want the island to become part of the US. The survey by the pollster Verian, commissioned by the Danish paper Berlingske, showed only 6% of Greenlanders were in favour of becoming part of the US, with 9% undecided.
