Greenland lawmakers form a new government on the eve of Vance visit

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This article was published 27/03/2025 (191 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LONDON (AP) — Greenlandic lawmakers on Thursday agreed to form a new government, banding together to resist U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to annex the Arctic island, local media reported.

Four of the five parties elected to Greenland’s parliament earlier this month have agreed to form a coalition that will have 23 of 31 seats in the legislature. The agreement is set to be signed Friday, the newspaper Sermitsiaq reported, citing Jens-Frederik Nielsen, leader of the Demokraatit, the biggest party in parliament.

The agreement comes as Trump ramps up his effort to gain control of Greenland “one way or the other.” U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance is scheduled to arrive Friday in Greenland, where he will visit America’s Pituffik Space Base, which supports missile surveillance and missile defense operations.

After his center-right party’s surprise victory in the March 11 election, Nielsen said he wanted to form the broadest coalition possible to help resist U.S. pressure. The final agreement excludes only one party, Naleraq, which left the coalition talks on Monday.

Trump covets Greenland, a self-governing region of Denmark, because it has rich mineral deposits and straddles strategic air and sea routes at a time when the U.S., Russia and China are all vying for position in the Arctic.

“The new coalition agreement could not have come at a more opportune time as it will signal to the Vances who arrive on the same day the unity forged in defiance of what has been perceived as a campaign of disrespect and intimidation,” said Dwayne Ryan Menezes, founder and managing director of the Polar Research & Policy Initiative.