"All the United States is asking for is a place called Greenland, where we already had it as a trustee, but respectfully returned it back to Denmark not long ago," Trump said.

The president's push to gain control of Greenland, a Danish territory, has created anxiety about the future of the alliance throughout Europe.

Negotiators have discussed proposals to check Russian and Chinese influence in the Arctic and transfer sovereignty over pockets of Greenlandic land to the United States, an idea opposed by Denmark.

In Elk Horn, Iowa, residents watched with concern as President Donald Trump fixated on Greenland and disparaged Denmark, one of America’s oldest and closest allies.

During a speech Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, President Trump said that he would not use force to take Greenland, an island the State Department says the United States needs to control to counter threats in the surrounding Arctic sea by Russia and China.

Explore the complex geopolitical dynamics surrounding Greenland as it grapples with U. S. ambitions and Danish control, highlighting the island's struggle for self-determination in the face of imperialism.

Since Russia full-scale invasion of Ukraine almost four years ago, Europe's attention has been firmly fixed on NATO's eastern flank. But could the Arctic become the next area requiring defence and does Bundeswehr have the capacity to take on that role?

In the early twentieth century, Danish and American diplomats quietly explored a land swap so audacious it sounded like satire: Denmark would hand over Greenland to Washington, and in return the United States would help it reclaim territory in Europe.