FILE – A view of homes in Nuuk, Greenland, Sunday, June 22, 2025
Kwiyeon Ha/AP
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Kwiyeon Ha/AP
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Denmark’s overseas minister summoned the highest U.S. diplomat within the nation for talks after the principle nationwide broadcaster reported Wednesday that not less than three folks with connections to President Donald Trump have been finishing up covert affect operations in Greenland.
In a prolonged written assertion, the U.S. State Division confirmed that the deputy chief of mission in Copenhagen, Mark Stroh, had met with Danish overseas ministry officers. It declined to remark “on the actions of personal U.S. residents in Greenland.”
“The U.S. authorities doesn’t management or direct the actions of personal residents,” it mentioned.
The division mentioned Stroh had “a productive dialog and reaffirmed the robust ties among the many Authorities of Greenland, the US, and Denmark.” It mentioned the U.S. values its relationships with each Denmark, a NATO ally, and Greenland and famous that Trump and his high aides had all mentioned they respect “the best of the folks of Greenland to find out their very own future.”
Mark Stroh, the highest U.S. diplomat in Denmark, arrives the Ministry of International Affairs in Copenhagen, Denmark, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025.
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Thomas Traasdahl/Ritzau Scanpix Foto/AP
“We proceed to foster engagement and cooperation with Denmark and Greenland to help elevated safety and prosperity for our nations,” it mentioned.
Stroh is the second American diplomat to be summoned by a European NATO ally this week because the Trump administration shakes up its method to overseas coverage. France had known as U.S. Ambassador Charles Kushner to its overseas ministry after he despatched a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron alleging the nation didn’t do sufficient to fight antisemitism.
Trump has repeatedly mentioned he seeks U.S. jurisdiction over Greenland, an enormous, semiautonomous territory of Denmark. He has not dominated out navy pressure to take management of the mineral-rich, strategically situated Arctic island.
Denmark and Greenland have mentioned the island is not on the market and condemned studies of the U.S. gathering intelligence there.
Public broadcaster DR mentioned Danish authorities and safety sources that it did not title, in addition to unidentified sources in Greenland and the U.S., consider that not less than three American nationals with connections to Trump have been finishing up covert affect operations within the territory.
A type of folks allegedly compiled a listing of U.S.-friendly Greenlanders, collected names of individuals against Trump and obtained locals to level out circumstances that could possibly be used to forged Denmark in a nasty gentle in American media, the broadcaster reported. Two others have tried to nurture contacts with politicians, businesspeople and locals, in response to the report.
DR mentioned its story was primarily based on data from a complete of eight sources, who consider the objective is to weaken relations with Denmark from inside Greenlandic society. It mentioned it had been unable to make clear whether or not the People had been working at their very own initiative or on orders from another person. It mentioned it is aware of their names however selected to not publish them to guard its sources.
Mark Stroh, the highest U.S. diplomat in Denmark, arrives the Ministry of International Affairs in Copenhagen, Denmark, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025.
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Thomas Traasdahl/Ritzau Scanpix Foto/ AP
The Related Press couldn’t independently verify the report.
“We’re conscious that overseas actors proceed to point out an curiosity in Greenland and its place within the Kingdom of Denmark,” Danish International Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen mentioned in a press release. “It’s due to this fact not stunning if we expertise exterior makes an attempt to affect the way forward for the Kingdom within the time forward.”
“Any try and intervene within the inner affairs of the Kingdom will after all be unacceptable,” Rasmussen mentioned.
Cooperation between the governments of Denmark and Greenland “is shut and primarily based on mutual belief,” he added.
The White Home, just like the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen, wouldn’t touch upon the substance of DR’s reporting that People with connections to Trump have been finishing up covert affect operations in Greenland. However a White Home official, who was not licensed to remark publicly and spoke solely on the situation of anonymity, downplayed Denmark’s issues and urged “the Danes have to relax.”
The Danish Safety and Intelligence Service mentioned it believes that “notably within the present scenario, Greenland is a goal for affect campaigns of varied varieties” that would purpose to create divisions within the relationship between Denmark and Greenland.
It mentioned it “assesses that this could possibly be finished by exploiting current or fabricated disagreements, for instance in reference to well-known particular person circumstances, or by selling or amplifying sure viewpoints in Greenland relating to the Kingdom, the US, or different international locations with a specific curiosity in Greenland.”
The service, recognized by its Danish acronym PET, mentioned that in recent times, it has “constantly strengthened” its efforts and presence in Greenland in cooperation with authorities there, and can proceed to take action.
