Donald Trump has a simple message about Greenland: NATO has been nagging Denmark about it for decades. How many decades depends on the sentence and the current mood.
On January 19, 2026, Trump told reporters in Florida that NATO had been warning Denmark ”for about 20 years” about a Russian threat connected to Greenland, then extended it to ”longer than that, 25 years” in the same exchange. Reuters reports the quote here.
In that same Reuters exchange, he added that Denmark’s leaders ”don’t even go there”.
In this version of geopolitics, a plane ticket functions as a deed. Same Reuters report, same press scrum.
Reuters reported the remarks as part of a broader story on U.S. pressure toward Denmark and Greenland. The agency presents the timeline as Trump’s claim, not as an established NATO position.
The claim, stripped of decoration
According to Reuters, Trump was commenting on NATO allies arriving in Greenland during the Arctic Endurance exercise. He described the deployment as small, then used it as a springboard for his historical account.
”They sent a few people, and they say they sent them not for me, but to guard against Russia. But you know, NATO has been warning Denmark for about 20 years now, longer than that, 25 years, they’ve been warning Denmark about the Russian threat, and it’s not only Russia, it’s also China”.
Reuters does not attach a NATO document, assessment, briefing, or transcript to this statement. It stands on its own, as reported by Reuters in the same article covering Trump’s remarks (Reuters, Jan 19, 2026).
What public NATO material actually says
NATO publishes a large volume of official material, including summit declarations, communiques, speeches, and transcripts, via its Official texts and resources and its events transcripts index. None of the publicly accessible texts describe a 20- or 25-year campaign of warnings aimed at Denmark over Greenland.
A NATO transcript dated January 12, 2026 quotes Secretary General Mark Rutte describing NATO becoming more involved in the Arctic ”since 2025”, linking the shift to requests from the seven member states bordering the Arctic (NATO transcript, Jan 12, 2026). The wording places the change firmly in recent years.
NATO’s Washington Summit Declaration from July 10, 2024 also mentions the ”High North”, noting that the accession of Finland and Sweden strengthens the Alliance in that region. It does not describe long-running warnings to Denmark.
Denmark and Greenland respond, without stretching timelines
In the same Reuters report that includes Trump’s remarks, Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen rejects the underlying premise of bargaining over territory, saying: ”We are living in 2026, you can trade with people, but you don’t trade people”.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen states in a Facebook post that Greenland should decide its own future, adding that the government will not accept pressure and will act according to dialogue, respect, and international law (Reuters, Jan 19, 2026).
A NATO mission idea, described plainly
Separately, Reuters reports that Denmark and Greenland have discussed the possibility of a NATO mission in Greenland and the Arctic. Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen says the idea has been presented to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. The report does not frame this as the result of decades of NATO warnings.
The problem?
There is no public NATO record confirming that Denmark has been warned for 20 years, 25 years, or any other extended period matching Trump’s account. The only place this timeline appears is in Trump’s own remarks, as reported by Reuters.
Verifiable reference points
On July 10, 2024, NATO published the Washington Summit Declaration, which references the ”High North” and notes that the accession of Finland and Sweden strengthens the Alliance in that region (NATO, Jul 10, 2024).
On January 12, 2026, NATO published a transcript of a joint press conference in which Secretary General Mark Rutte described increased NATO involvement in the Arctic ”since 2025”, linking it to requests from the seven member states bordering the Arctic (NATO, Jan 12, 2026).
On January 19, 2026, Reuters reported that Denmark and Greenland had discussed the possibility of a NATO mission in Greenland and the Arctic, quoting Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen saying the idea had been presented to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (Reuters, Jan 19, 2026).
On the same day, Reuters also reported Trump telling reporters that NATO had been warning Denmark for ”about 20 years” and then ”25 years” about Greenland-related threats, presenting the timeline solely as Trump’s own claim (Reuters, Jan 19, 2026).