A Visit to Wrest Greenland from Denmark
Both Trump’s special envoy to Greenland and the US ambassador to Denmark are scheduled to attend a business fair in Nuuk next month.
When Trump’s special envoy is scheduled to board a plane from Louisiana bound for Nuuk and the “Future Greenland” trade fair, it will not only be the Greenlanders’ first face-to-face meeting with Landry.
It will also be the meeting with an envoy who represents the US president’s “maximalist ambitions to wrest Greenland from Denmark.”
This is the assessment of Rasmus Sinding Søndergaard, senior researcher in American foreign policy at the Danish Institute for International Studies.
“I see him as representing the line in the Trump administration that is closer to Trump’s personal ambitions, which are for ownership and control in one sense or another,” says Rasmus Sinding Søndergaard.
Landry’s “polarizing” character and comments about Greenland mean that he will probably be met with some skepticism, the senior researcher estimates.
“He will probably not be met with open arms, but he has now been given the task, which is for Donald Trump, to ensure that Greenland becomes part of the United States.”
“Participating in this kind of event is a way to signal that the United States is interested in contributing to Greenlandic society economically. That is probably the message he will try to get across. But whether it goes through is probably more doubtful,” he says.
The US Ambassador Is Also Coming
It is not only Jeff Landry who represents the interests of the US president at the fair, which will take place in Nuuk on May 19–20. The list of participants also includes Ken Howery, who is the US ambassador to Denmark.
He was in Greenland for the first time in December in connection with annual political meetings between the United States, Greenland, and Denmark. Here, the parties discussed cooperation between Greenland and the United States across areas such as trade and investment, research, culture, education, raw materials, energy and the environment, and—in these times—not least the US military presence in Greenland.
Both Howery and Landry’s names on the list of participants at the fair in Greenland show Rasmus Sinding Søndergaard that the US interest in Greenland is intact and an expression that the American side is playing with multiple strategies.
“Howery always talks about the less provocative aspects of Trump’s rhetoric and tries to promote cooperation and speak in more diplomatic language. Landry is then the one who sometimes says the things that are less diplomatic.”
“The fact that they are both there shows that both sides of Trump’s approach to Greenland are physically present in the room,” he says.
Paying Guest
Greenland Business, which organizes the business fair, has told the Greenlandic media Sermitsiaq and KNR that they have not invited Landry, and that he is not part of the official program. He is there instead as a paying guest.
Troy J. Bouffard, who is assistant professor and head of the Center for Arctic Security and Resilience at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks and fellow at the Modern War Institute at the United States Military Academy, also notes the circumstances surrounding Landry’s participation.
“But symbolically, his presence means something,” he says in a written response to DR and points out that it gives the governor the opportunity to listen to Greenlandic priorities firsthand in an informal forum.
All other things being equal, it will be beneficial for Landry, Bouffard believes, because Future Greenland is about Greenland’s economic ambitions, critical minerals, investment interests from abroad, and infrastructure needs.
Bouffard emphasizes that Landry’s presence at the fair supports Greenland’s importance to the United States.
Source: DR (in Danish)