Trump's threats cast an ominous shadow over Greenland's icy fjords

The sun rises over the ice-capped mountains of Nuuk Fjord and we travel along one of the world's last wild frontiers.

But here and in the rest of Greenland's frozen spaces, shadows are gathering.

As Donald Trump is about to become the President of the United States, his refusal to rule out taking Greenland by force echoes in conversation across the island.

“He's certainly welcome to visit us,” says the captain of the converted fishing boat that takes us east. Aware that he has to do business with people of all political stripes, he asked not to be named, but uses a phrase I hear repeatedly here.

“Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders. So Trump can visit her, but that's it.”

The waters are flat calm as we enter the isolated village of Kapisilit – population about 40 – where a few hunters set out to shoot seals.

It's -16C (3F) and with the wind chill it feels more like -27C.

But near the harbor I meet a local church elder, Kaaleeraq Ringsted, 73, a great-grandfather, drying fillets of cod caught in the fish-rich waters by his front door.

When I ask if President-elect Trump is buying or invading Greenland, he first laughs. Then his tone turns serious.

“It is not acceptable for him to say that. Greenland is not for sale.”

He then tells me how he learned to fish and hunt here with his father and grandfather and how he wants to preserve this life for his children and grandchildren.

Crossing the bay, the boat slipped through the broken surface ice. Two eagles perched on a rock looking for fish in the clear waters.

We were heading to the farm of Angutimmarik Hansen, who raises sheep as well as hunting seals, wildfowl and rabbits.

All of his winter feed for the sheep has to be imported from Denmark, a reminder of how the harsh climate defines life options here.

Inside his front door is a rack of hunting rifles. He notices that I'm looking at them.

“They're in case there's an invasion,” he jokes.

But his attitude to the belligerent rhetoric from Mar-A-Lago is far from calm.

“What a stupid man in the world like Trump,” he says. “We will never sell Greenland.”

This small farm is about 3,000 miles (4,828 km) from Florida, where the future US president gave his already infamous press conference last week.

“But Trump is not the United States. We can work with the American people,” says Hansen.

The Trump effect accelerated with Donald Trump Jr.'s arrival in Greenlandhot on the heels of his father's statements. He flew into the capital Nuuk on the family's 737 plane – Trump Force One – and stayed for four hours and thirty-three minutes, meeting some locals and offering only polite remarks.

“It was incredibly nice to meet people and people were very happy to meet us,” he said after lunch at a local hotel. “Dad will have to come here.”

Then it was back to the sunnier climate of Florida.

Trump Jr. was greeted by local businessman Jorgen Boasen, who once campaigned for the president-elect.

He told local media that he was Trump's “biggest fan” and that “of course they care about our country and they're welcome to come and see what our country is like. It's also about opening up to trade and cooperation.”

The city of Nuuk is the northernmost capital of the world. It has a thriving civil society and a robust press. And there is some satisfaction here that Trump's comments have elevated the debate over Greenlandic independence to the international stage.

There must be a Greenland that is no one's colony, say activists such as Kuno Fenker, a ruling coalition lawmaker and member of the local parliament's foreign policy and security committee.

We meet at the port, under the bronze statue of Hans Egede, the 18th-century missionary, considered here to be the man who opened the way to colonization.

“Donald Trump is a politician,” says Mr. Fenker.

“He's a tough businessman and we know his rhetoric and that rhetoric is something we've been used to since 2019. here, and it's just a matter of talking to a colleague, an ally, about how we can resolve things here in the Arctic and also in NATO.”

Mr. Fencker offers the main argument of the independence fighters.

“What is needed here is for Greenland as a sovereign country to negotiate directly with the United States, not for Denmark to do it for us.”

Independence from Denmark could entail significant financial costs.

Greenland receives subsidies from Copenhagen worth approximately one fifth of its GDP each year. Mr. Fencker suggested, as did other leading figures here, that the island would negotiate with America and Denmark for support.

“We're not naive about it. We need support in defense, security and also economic development. We want a sustainable and self-sufficient economy.”

The editor of the local Sermitsiaq newspaper, Maasana Egede, admits he was worried by Donald Trump's implied threat of force, but wants to see how the reality lives up to the rhetoric.

On independence, Mr Egede is frustrated by what he sees as a polarized debate in the media – local and international.

“We tell this story a lot that it should be about independence or not independence. But there's this whole story that's between them, that people want independence, but not at any cost. There is a standard of living to be maintained . there is a trade to be maintained.'

There are expectations that at some point – not in the near future – there will be a vote in favor and Denmark will accept the result.

The island's Prime Minister Mute Egede addressed a joint press conference with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen following Donald Trump's latest comments.

“We don't want to be Danish, we don't want to be American, we want to be Greenlandic,” he said. The Danish prime minister took care not to offend anyone, least of all the future president of the United States.

“The debate about Greenlandic independence and the recent announcements from the US show us the great interest in Greenland,” she said. “Events which caused much thought and feeling to many in Greenland and Denmark.”

Mrs. Frederiksen knows well how deep the feelings are in Greenland. Memories of injustice and racism remain fresh here among the local Inuit population.

Scandals such as the campaign to insert IUDs (intrauterine devices) to prevent pregnancy in thousands of Inuit women and girls in the 1960s and 1970s have haunted relations between Greenland and Denmark.

It is not known how many of these procedures were performed without the permission of those involved, but the number is significant. The goal was to reduce the Greenlandic population.

Maliina Abelsen is a former minister of finance in the government of Greenland, and now a consultant to companies and organizations working on the island. She has also worked for UNICEF in Denmark and leading businesses in Greenland such as the Royal Greenland seafood group.

Ms Abelsen believes much more needs to be done to address the injustices of the past.

“I think a lot of people are saying, maybe also the Danish government and state have said, 'Oh, well, you know this has happened in the past. That is so many years ago. How will we be held accountable for this? it's time to move on.

“But you can't move forward if you haven't healed and if you haven't acknowledged what happened to you. This is a job we have to do together with Denmark, not something Greenland can do alone.”

And despite her own high profile in civil society and business, Maliina Abelsen says that when it comes to racism – such as Inuit jokes – she “can speak for most Greenlanders, that we've all experienced it in our lives”.

Questions of self-determination and confronting the past are closely intertwined.

Now, Donald Trump's intervention has put both before the eyes of the world.

But the message we heard – from remote fjord settlements to the capital Nuuk – is that Greenland's fate must be decided here, among people whose voices have been ignored for too long.

With additional reporting by Adrienne Murray and Kostas Kalergis.