American action regarding Greenland could happen within "weeks or months."
This is according to Thomas Dans, US President Donald Trump's Arctic Commissioner, in an interview with the American media outlet USA Today.
It is not clear what he exactly means by action.
- This is a train journey with several stops. Things can move like an express train, skipping the small stops and going straight to the main station.
- That's where President Trump wants to take it - at high speed, Thomas Dans tells the media.
Driver association
Thomas Dans is a businessman who headed the U.S. Arctic Research Commission (USARC) during Trump's first term. He was reappointed in December 2025.
USARC describes itself as an independent federal research agency that advises the president and Congress on the Arctic.
However, in a post on LinkedIn from December, where Thomas Dans shares that he has been appointed as USARC chairman, Dans writes that he will also "represent American business and industry interests in the Arctic."
He also runs the association American Daybreak, which aims to strengthen ties between the United States and Greenland.
Donald Trump has long expressed a desire to take over Greenland, and in recent months tensions between Denmark, Greenland and the United States have increased.
On Wednesday, Denmark and Greenland will meet with the United States at the White House. The meeting will be hosted by US Vice President J.D. Vance.
From the side of the Danish Commonwealth, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lars Løkke Rasmussen (M) and Greenland's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vivian Motzfeldt, will participate.
Expects Trump to maintain ambition regarding Greenland
Thomas Dans tells USA Today that he does not expect Trump to drop the ambition to gain control of Greenland.
Trump has suggested that the United States could buy Greenland from Denmark, which has been consistently rejected by both Denmark and Greenland.
American officials, all speaking anonymously, recently told the Reuters news agency that the US government has been discussing the possibility of sending a large sum of money to all Greenlanders to convince them to secede from Denmark.
An amount of between $10,000 and $100,000 per person has been on the table in the talks.
- Will require time to gain trust from the Greenlandic people
According to USA Today, Thomas Dans says that while he believes significant progress could be made in negotiations or in relation to an agreement on Greenland sooner rather than later, he expects it will take longer to complete any potential acquisition.
He adds, according to the media outlet, that "things can happen quickly from a transactional point of view."
But there will be "a process to gain trust and support from the Greenlandic people, and that will require time and effort on the part of the United States."
Trump has not ruled out using the US military to achieve the goal of control over Greenland.
But the probability remains small, Thomas Dans estimates, according to USA Today, because "you can't invade when you're already there."
The US has an agreement with Denmark where they can station more soldiers on the island upon request. They have scaled back considerably in recent decades and only have one base left.
/ritzau/
