CLAIMS SHARED WIDELY online falsely said that Greenland would “bypass” Denmark to negotiate a possible annexation with the US government directly.

However, a joint statement by the Danish and Greenlandic Prime Ministers on 13 January have shown that these predictions, which never had a solid basis, had no basis in fact.

US President Donald Trump has said that Greenland, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, would become part of the United States “one way or the other”.

EU finance ministers are meeting in the wake of Trump’s announcement on Saturday that he would be levying tariffs of 10% on all goods sold in the US by eight European nations until the US acquires Greenland.

The European Council is to hold an emergency summit in the coming days, where leaders are to discuss next steps in light of Donald Trump’s threats to take over Greenland.

There is currently a bill in the US House of Representatives with the express aim of seizing Greenland. Meanwhile, a bipartisan bill in the US Senate seeks to bar any funds being used to occupy NATO territory, such as Greenland.

“If we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark,” Jens-Frederik Nielsen, the leader of Greenland said last week at the joint conference with his Danish counterpart, a day ahead of their meeting with senior US officials, including the US Vice President.

The claim

Ahead of the joint statement by the Danish and Greenlandic Prime Ministers last week, rumours spread widely on social media that Greenland was planning to have direct talks with the US about becoming the country’s next state.

“Greenland is meeting with the US without Denmark, signalling possible efforts to bypass the Kingdom,” one 9 January post read.

Other posts were couched in more cautious language, though suggested the same idea: “Reports indicate that Greenland’s local government is seriously evaluating a proposal to engage in direct high-level negotiations with Washington, deliberately excluding Danish officials from the room,” a 10 January post on Facebook read.

Many of these posts made reference to a report in an outlet called TechTimes.

Although a legitimate technology website of that name does exist, the outlet being referenced in these claims appears to have no connection to the legitimate website. Instead, it appears to simply be a Facebook page with very poor reviews, whose users frequently accuse it of spreading disinformation.

A post on the page features an image of the Greelandic leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen, with a caption suggesting that the government was considering negotiating directly with the United States, though it gave no indication of any source for this claim.

The post was shared more than 430 times, as well as garnering more than 4,300 reactions.

Other posts, which do not mention TechTimes, instead mention the Greenland political party Naleraq as the basis for its claim.

Naleraq is not in government. It holds just over a quarter of the seats in Greeland’s parliament.

Naleraq, which is strongly pro-independence from Denmark, had on 8 January suggested that the government talk directly with the United States without Denmark, though this idea was shot down later that day when put to the country’s foreign minister.

The following day Naleraq signed a joint statement with all the Greenlandic political parties in parliament condemning US statements about a possible takeover and stating “we will not be Americans”.

A poll of Greenlanders last year found only 6% would like to become a part of the United States. In the US, a recent survey found only 17% of US citizens agreed with efforts to acquire Greenland, and only 10% said the US should use military force to obtain new territory.

Claims that Greenland would “bypass” Denmark to negotiate a possible annexation with the US government directly either have no source, or are misrepresenting out-of-context comments by an opposition party. Surveys indicate little popular support for a US takeover of Greenland in either country.

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