By Sune Engel Rasmussen

The Danish government has summoned the top U.S. envoy to Copenhagen over an alleged covert influence campaign in Greenland aimed at driving a wedge between Denmark and the autonomous territory that President Trump has sought to control.

Danish public broadcaster DR on Wednesday reported that at least three Americans in Greenland, with links to President Trump and in positions to influence American security and foreign policy, are on a secret mission to collect names of citizens who support Trump's objectives on the island.

The president has said the U.S. could purchase the mineral-rich, strategically located island and hasn't ruled out taking it by force. Greenland forms a self-ruling part of the Kingdom of Denmark, a North Atlantic Treaty Organization member that controls the island's foreign and security policy.

The influence campaign seeks to recruit people both in Greenland and Denmark to the separatist movement and to sow division between the island and Copenhagen, according to DR.

"Any attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of the Kingdom will of course be unacceptable," Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said in an emailed statement. "We are aware that foreign actors continue to show an interest in Greenland and its position in the Kingdom of Denmark. It is therefore not surprising if we experience outside attempts to influence the future of the Kingdom in the time ahead."

The Wall Street Journal in May reported that the U.S. was stepping up its efforts to gather intelligence regarding Greenland and to identify people who support the U.S. objectives for the island. It couldn't be learned whether the newly reported influence network goes beyond such efforts, or whether it is acting under direct instructions from Washington.

The latest disclosure puts Copenhagen back on a diplomatic collision course with the U.S., historically a firm ally. Despite previous Danish protests, the Trump administration has never denied allegations that it is trying to influence public opinion in Greenland.

The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

"We know that the U.S. has historically spied on its allies. But when it comes to the U.S. moving from gathering information to actively trying to affect public opinion with the aim of seizing control of an ally's territory, I can't think of a precedent," said Rasmus Sinding Søndergaard, senior researcher with the Danish Institute for International Studies. "Denmark has repeatedly objected, but clearly to no effect."

The Danish Security and Intelligence Service, or PET, didn't comment on the specific media report but said that, "Greenland particularly in the current situation is a target for various types of influence campaigns. PET assesses that such campaigns are aimed at creating divisions in the relationship between Denmark and Greenland."

The agency said such efforts could seek to exploit existing, individual grievances, by reinforcing certain views in Greenland, or through disinformation.

Perhaps in an effort to show that Denmark is working to mend historical wounds inflicted on the island's population, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Wednesday issued a public apology to thousands of Greenlandic women who during a controversial birth-control campaign, beginning in the 1960s, were unwittingly fitted with the contraceptive coil. Some of the women were as young as 13. Some 143 Greenlandic women have sued the Danish government over the affair, which some of the island's politicians have described as a genocidal practice.

"We cannot change what has happened. But we can take responsibility," Frederiksen said, adding that her government recognized that the campaign had caused "anger and sorrow for many Greenlanders, and many families in Greenland."

The apology came ahead of a long-anticipated joint Danish-Greenlandic report inquiry into the birth-control campaign, but Wednesday's statement wasn't expected.

Since Trump's statements on Greenland, Americans close to Trump have been building connections on the island.

Thomas Dans, a venture capitalist who served as a commissioner for the U.S. Arctic Research Commission during Trump's first term earlier this year toured both Greenland and the U.S. with Jørgen Boassen, a 50-year-old Greenland bricklayer who gained local fame for his vocal admiration of Trump. According to a separate DR report at the time, Dans paid Boassen's travel expenses and promised him a salary to help develop local contacts.

Dans wasn't mentioned in DR's report about the three American influence agents. Dans didn't immediately reply to a request for comment.

Some 84% of Greenlanders want independence, but 45% only want secession if it wouldn't harm living standards, according to a survey earlier this year commissioned by the Danish newspaper Berlingske, and Greenlandic newspaper Sermitsiaq. Only 6% of Greenlanders polled favored becoming part of the U.S.

Greenlanders in March elected a new pro-business government strongly opposed to an American takeover of the self-governing territory.

Aaja Chemnitz Larsen, one of two Greenlandic lawmakers in the Danish parliament, said she wasn't surprised by the news, given various U.S. efforts to take control of the island, which she said had alienated many Greenlanders.

"Greenland is used to outside influence, including from Denmark," she said. "We are a proud people, who protect our culture and way of life, and many Greenlanders are aware that too close a relation to the Americans, whose culture is quite invasive, could have a negative impact on us."

Write to Sune Engel Rasmussen at sune.rasmussen@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 27, 2025 10:34 ET (14:34 GMT)

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