A Greenlander interviewed by The New York Times said he opposes the U.S. gaining control of the world’s largest island because he is “afraid” it would upend his ability to hunt whales and seals.
President Donald Trump wrote in a Wednesday post to Truth Social that the U.S. “needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security” and that if the country does not acquire the island, which is currently an autonomous territory of Denmark, “RUSSIA OR CHINA WILL, AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!” The same day, the NYT published a story detailing interviews with several Greenlanders opposed to the U.S. taking over their homeland, with one man telling the outlet that he opposes Danish control because Americans think marine mammals are “cute.”
“I hunt whales and seals. In the United States they think whales and seals are cute and shouldn’t be hunted. That’s what I’m afraid of,” Kunuk Abelsen, a resident of Kulusuk — a remote Greenlandic settlement with a population of just 241 — told the NYT.
This is the equivalent of “affordability” in Greenlandic politics pic.twitter.com/LeQtgV2bbJ
— dylan (@narrenhut) January 15, 2026
A website devoted to Greenland tourism describes Kulusuk as “a traditional Greenlandic settlement with hunting and fishing in its heart and tourism in its embrace.”
The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), which former President Richard Nixon signed into law in 1972, prohibits the unpermitted hunting, harassment, capture, or killing of whales, seals and other marine mammals in U.S. waters and by U.S. citizens on the high seas.
While commercial whaling is banned in both the U.S. and Denmark, both countries still allow “aboriginal subsistence hunts” of marine mammals by native populations in Greenland and Alaska — as well as a part of Washington state — respectively. The only three countries that presently allow commercial whaling are Japan, Norway and Iceland.
Another Greenlander interviewed by the NYT said she has “never heard anyone talk like that about another country before,” referring to Trump’s expressed desire to take control of the Danish territory.
Despite being three times the size of Texas, Greenland only has a population of about 56,000 people — giving it a population density of around 0.07 people per square mile. By comparison, if the island of Manhattan had the same population density as the Arctic territory, it would not even be home to two people. About 80% of Greenland’s area is covered by the massive Greenland Ice Sheet.
“President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States, and it’s vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to The Hill earlier in January.
A statement from Trump’s White House at the time said “the president and his team are discussing a range of options to” pursue their goal to obtain the Arctic Island “and of course, utilizing the U.S. military is always an option at the commander-in-chief’s disposal.”
Democratic Sen. John Fetterman expressed openness to the U.S. acquisition of Greenland through peaceful means stating that while he opposes a military invasion of the island, “Ideally we could purchase it. And that’s not scandalous either.”
“That’s been an idea in our history for a while. Ideally, we could purchase it,” Fetterman said.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Screen Capture/PBS News Hour)
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
