Extract from ABC News
Donald Trump also spoke about annexing Greenland early last year, prompting protests inside the country. (Reuters: Ritzau Scanpix/Christian Klindt Soelbeck)
The idea was reignited more recently by US President Donald Trump, in his first term and again in the early days of his second.
But the dramatic events in Venezuela last weekend have people much more nervous that this time, he could actually be serious.
Since then, the rhetoric around Greenland has escalated, with the White House confirming they are discussing options for acquiring Greenland and that using the military is "always an option".
JD Vance wore jeans for his tour of the US military's Pituffik Space Base in Greenland in March 2025. (Pool: Jim Watson via Reuters)
However, according to an exclusive report in the Wall Street Journal, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that tough talk was merely a negotiating tactic to secure a potential sale.
For a sparsely populated island with few defences, the prospect of military action is a frightening one.
And for a place with a painful history of colonisation, the comments are deeply triggering.
Greenlanders 'wondering what else' Trump could do
When Foreign Correspondent visited Greenland's capital, Nuuk, in 2025, local seal hunter Patrick Foldager was keen to show off the icebergs and wildlife that make his home so special.
Even armed with a rifle and dodging icebergs that could easily plunge his small boat into the deadly cold, it was Trump's rhetoric that made him nervous.
Greenland is home to fewer than 60,000 people, and about 20,000 live in the capital, Nuuk. (Foreign Correspondent: Greg Nelson ACS)
The events of last week have amplified his fears.
"I think for many here in Greenland and myself, we are scared about what has happened in Venezuela," he told the ABC.
"We are wondering what else he could do when he talks so much about wanting Greenland."
While the invasion of Venezuela is sending an extra chill through the subzero air, annexing Greenland would be an almost unthinkable escalation.
As a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, Greenland is covered by NATO's protections and the overriding principle that an attack on one would be an attack on all.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said a US takeover of the island would mark an end to the NATO alliance, which the two countries helped create more than 70 years ago.
Mr Foldager hopes the pressure from NATO will be enough to deter Trump.
"I just hope … politicians in the USA can see that it's not OK and he [Trump] can't just take our country," he said.
Like most of the approximately 60,000 people in Greenland, Patrick has Inuit heritage and he worries about what would be lost in a US takeover.
For Greenlanders, that's a fear based on experience.
Greenland's long fight for independence
Denmark began colonising Greenland in the 18th century. But despite granting the territory more autonomy over the years, it has been criticised for the way it treated the local population.
Last September, Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen apologised to a generation of Indigenous Greenlanders who were forcibly prescribed birth control while under Danish rule.
The women had been given invasive contraceptive devices by Danish health authorities against their will, and sometimes without their knowledge, in cases dating back to the 1960s.
The apology was widely seen as a result of Greenland being thrust into the international spotlight by Trump.
Nive Heilman believes Donald Trump has forced Denmark to confront its dark history in Greenland. (Foreign Correspondent: Greg Nelson ACS)
Dog trainer Nive Heilmann told the ABC that while she was no fan of the US president or his ambitions to take Greenland, she was glad he'd forced Denmark to confront its dark history and the misconception they were "the nice colonisers".
Her own grandmother had been shipped off to Denmark at just 14 to "become Danish".
"You can't turn back time and change whatever's been done to us, but you can at least acknowledge it and say, 'Yeah, that was really not good and we are sorry about that,'" she said.
Trump's ambitions have also helped reignite the territory's fight for independence from Denmark.
One of those fighting for the island to become its own nation is Jorgen Boassen, the man known as Donald Trump's "Greenlandic son". He often sports a MAGA cap and gave Donald Jr a tour of Nuuk during his controversial visit last year.
Jorgen Boassen, pictured in Greenland in early 2025, is known as Donald Trump's "Greenlandic son". (Foreign Correspondent: Greg Nelson ACS)
Boassen still thinks the White House's threats to annex Greenland are just words, and even believes it could lead to independence.
"I'm not concerned," he told the ABC.
"I'm just happy for new possibilities for Greenlanders and when the time comes, we will be recognised as a people."
Despite the president's repeated desire to own Greenland, Boassen thinks the ultimate result won't be a takeover but a so-called "free association" agreement where Greenland could become independent in exchange for granting the United States authority over its defence and foreign affairs.
"That's what the people of Greenland want," he said, "to become independent — finally".
He also believes that when members of the Trump administration float the idea of military intervention, they're merely talking about stepping in in the event of an invasion by Russia or China.
"Of course [Trump] wants to control the Arctic, the Danes aren't protecting it well enough."
After being flown to the US by a Trump lobbyist to help campaign for the president in 2024, Boassen hopes that if that happens, he'll be taken care of.
"Maybe he'll make me president of Greenland," he jokes.
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