If Donald Trump is serious about his plans to take control of Greenland, he couldn't be off to a much worse start.
Leaders in the country have dug in their heels, refusing a situation that results in anything less than a fully independent Greenland. A phone call between Trump and Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen last week did little to help the situation, with sources familiar with the call describing it as "horrendous."
Speaking to the Financial Times, several anonymous sources said the call frightened Danish authorities and moved both parties farther from a deal.
"He was very firm. It was a cold shower," one source shared. "Before, it was hard to take it seriously. But I do think it is serious and potentially very dangerous."
"The Danes are utterly freaked out by this," another source added.
The prime minister's office rejected this characterization of the 45-minute phone call, saying that they told Trump in no uncertain terms "that Greenland is not for sale."
Trump's expansionist push was a late-breaking bit of oddity from his seemingly endless presidential campaign. Surprisingly, the desire to take control of Greenland, the Panama Canal and Canada has lingered beyond Inauguration Day, with Vice President JD Vance threateningly noting that the United States already has troops in the Danish country.
Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede went on Fox News earlier this month to tell Trump's constituents the country was not considering joining the United States.
"We are close neighbors, we have been cooperating in the last 80 years, and I think in the future we have a lot to offer to cooperate with," Múte Egede said, "but we want to also be clear. We don’t want to be Americans. We don’t want to be a part of the U.S."
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