London, 13 January 2026 (PA Media/dpa/MIA) — A US invasion of Greenland would be an attack on all NATO allies, the territory’s energy minister has said.

Naaja Nathanielsen told a press conference in London on Tuesday that US military action would represent “the breakdown of the rule of law” and leave Western allies having to “figure out what is this new world order about.”

Asked whether Greenland would expect NATO support in the event of an invasion, she said: “I really cannot answer your question, because it implies that it would be one country being attacked by another NATO partner, but actually we would all be under attack.”

Nathanielsen added that Greenland felt “betrayed” by US President Donald Trump’s demands to annex the semi-autonomous Danish territory.

She said: “We feel that the rhetoric is offensive, as we have said many times before, but also bewildering because we have done nothing but support the notion that Greenland is a part of the American national self-interest.”

Her UK visit came as the US continued to threaten to take over the territory, which Trump insists is vital for American national security.

On Monday, a member of Donald Trump’s Republican Party introduced legislation to annex Greenland as the 51st US state.

And the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland are set to visit Washington on Wednesday for a meeting with US Vice President JD Vance and secretary of state Marco Rubio.

Greenland's leader: Greenlanders do not want to be American

Meanwhile, Greenland's prime minister made it crystal clear that his people in no way want to become part of the United States, ahead of the talks in Washington on the US claims to the vast Arctic island.

"If we have to choose between the USA and Denmark, then we choose Denmark," Jens-Frederik Nielsen said at a joint press conference with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in Copenhagen.

Frederiksen stressed that it had not been easy to withstand what she termed the "completely unacceptable pressure from our closest allies."

You cannot move borders by force and you cannot buy a population, Frederiksen said.

"The hardest part is still ahead of us," she warned.

High-level meeting planned in Washington

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen is due to meet US Vice President JD Vance and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Wednesday to discuss US interest in the autonomously governed island, which belongs to Denmark.

Greenland's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Vivian Motzfeldt, is also expected to attend the meeting.

Whether the direct talks will bring any easing of tensions is unclear. The situation is very serious and the pressure on the Greenlandic population is extremely high, Nielsen said.

However, Greenland stands with Denmark and the two countries will go into the Washington talks together - and also leave together.

US President Donald Trump has in recent days again threatened to buy or annex Greenland, citing national security interests. He recently made it clear that he is seeking long-term ownership of the Arctic island.

“Ownership is very important,” Trump, a real estate mogul, told the New York Times last week.

Denmark and Greenland have been vigorously rejecting Trump's ownership claims for weeks, with the support of numerous European partners, including Germany.

The US has not taken potential military action off the table.

While White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has called diplomacy "the president's first option," she has also said that "all options are always on the table for President Trump," adding that "utilizing the US military is always an option."