Trump, Denmark, and the Fight for Greenland

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The Arctic sits at the nexus of global climate change, environmental vulnerability, international diplomacy, and community resilience, as we’re currently seeing play out between the United States and Greenland.

What happens in the northernmost part of the world today will influence environmental stability, economic development, governance, and security far beyond the Arctic’s own borders.

The Pulitzer Center has a well-established history of supporting public interest journalism in the Arctic, on issues including climate change and adaptations to oceans, conflict and security, impacts of the oil industry, and most recently food security.

Although it appears that President Trump is now doing an about-face on Greenland, the fate of the “world’s largest island” continues to dominate headlines around the globe.

In an address Wednesday to the World Economic Forum—the annual gathering of world leaders, policymakers, and business figures in Davos, Switzerland—Trump ruled out the use of force to annex the Denmark territory. 

Later Wednesday, it was reported by the Associated Press that Trump is canceling a tariff threat targeting eight European nations, and that he has agreed to a NATO deal on a “framework of a future deal” on Arctic security.

Pulitzer Center journalists have been front and center in reporting on Greenland—from politics, to the climate crisis, and more:

• For Grist, grantee Tom Vaillant, along with journalist Matt Simon, explores the political fight over Greenland in “Beneath Greenland’s Ice Lies a Climate Solution — and a New Geopolitical Battleground.” The reporting is part of Vaillant's series Greenland Untapped, but at What Cost?
• Vaillant and Daniel Graf examine why Trump wants Greenland in “Battle for Greenland: Donald Trump Wants Access to Raw Materials,” for the outlet 20 Minuten.
• Maddy Keyes, a 2024 Pulitzer Center Reporting Fellow, provides an inside look at the island’s traditions during the National Day of Greenland in her photo essay, “The Longest Day.” “The climate is changing, one resident said plainly. All Greenlanders can do is change with it,” Keyes writes.
• For Inside Climate News, Keyes reports on how the Indigenous Inuit people are trying to adapt to climate change in "Surviving the Thaw: Greenland’s Inuit Grapple With Their Melting World."
• In “What Greenland’s Ancient Past Reveals About Its Fragile Future,” for the Scientific American, grantee Jeffery DelViscio explores the potential “collapse of the world’s second-largest ice sheet,” and how it could “drown cities worldwide.” DelViscio’s reporting is part of his series Greenland's Frozen Secret.
• Journalist Danica Kirka reports on how Greenlanders are fighting back against Trump in her Associated Press report “Greenlanders Unite To Fend Off U.S. As Trump Seeks Control of Arctic Island.”

While the battle over Greenland plays out on the world stage, see other Pulitzer Center-supported reporting on the island.