JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Very early into President Trump's second term, he made it clear that he wanted to take over Greenland and had not ruled out force to do so. A year ago last February, I traveled to Greenland with an ALL THINGS CONSIDERED team. We wanted to hear directly from people there about President Trump's ambitions for the island. The constant refrain that we heard was this. People did not want to be Americans. They did not want to be Danish. They want to be Greenlanders and are proud of their history and traditions. And now, after the weekend's military action in Venezuela, President Trump is renewing his calls for the U.S. to take control of Greenland, citing strategic reasons.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it. I can tell you.
SUMMERS: Given all of that, we wanted to revisit one of the people we met in Greenland. Her name is Naaja Nathanielsen. And when we last spoke, she was running for Greenland's parliament. She won that election, and she is on the line now. It's nice to talk with you again.
NAAJA NATHANIELSEN: You too.
SUMMERS: I just want to start by asking you for your reaction. We just heard tape from President Trump, and in recent days, Vice President JD Vance also told Fox News that the president is willing to go as far as he has to to defend U.S. interest in the Arctic, and White House senior adviser Stephen Miller told CNN, and I'm quoting here, that "nobody is going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland," end quote. Naaja, when you hear these comments, what do you think?
NATHANIELSEN: Well, I think confusion, frustration is adequate words to cover what I feel and think. As I mentioned many times before, Greenland is an American ally, and we have been so for many decades, and I simply cannot grasp why this sort of very heated rhetoric is necessary. And it's really scary for the people of Greenland, and a lot of people are afraid and concerned right now.
SUMMERS: I mean, you are there in Greenland. We are not. How has this conversation changed things in Greenland? Are there visible signs?
NATHANIELSEN: Well, absolutely. People are talking about this amongst themselves. It fills the news cycle. Everybody is deeply frustrated. People say they have a difficult time sleeping, that they worry. So, yes, it, of course, affects all of us. There's a lot of confusion going around. So what is the end game here? And why is this necessary? As I mentioned, we do have a lot of collaboration already with the United States and have been happy to accommodate the US, both in terms of military presence, but also in terms of investment. So we have a hard time understanding why this is happening.
SUMMERS: Do you think, at this point, is this something that's reparable or are the relations broken permanently?
NATHANIELSEN: I don't believe in - but how could I say it. I believe in mending relationships. I mean, you have to when you're a small country. What we've got is faith in international law, our faith in collaboration. If this was only a power game, we would have absolutely nothing to say as it is. And I think being a former colony, we can see that it's possible to repair relationships, even with your colonizer. It all depends on how you approach things, how you - that you accept differences, and that you accept that maybe we don't have the same goals, but we can still find compromises. So I think that would be also my takeaway, that I still believe and this can be changed and amended. But right now it's difficult. Right now, it's very difficult.
SUMMERS: What would you like to see for the future of Greenland? What is the path forward?
NATHANIELSEN: Well, we're never going to be a great nation. We will always need good allies, partnerships, whether or not we are a sovereign nation or not. Right now, the majority of the people in Greenland are quite content with being part of the kingdom of Denmark. I think we all need to respect that. And I think that we will continue to work towards more and more self-governance, more self-determination, and build our small country the way we think is most suitable in contact with our heritage and culture, and that's going to be, I think, our goal for the next many years.
SUMMERS: We have been speaking with Naaja Nathanielsen. She's a government minister in Greenland. Thank you so much.
NATHANIELSEN: Your welcome. Have a nice day. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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