US envoy Jeff Landry says it’s time to ‘put footprint back’ on Greenland

The US special envoy to Greenland said it is time for Washington to reassert its presence on the Arctic island, as he concluded his first visit since his appointment in December 2025.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly argued the US needs to control Greenland, a Danish autonomous territory, citing national security concerns and warning the island could fall under Chinese or Russian influence.

Greenland sits on the shortest missile route between Russia and the US, is believed to hold untapped rare-earth minerals, and could become strategically valuable as polar ice melts and new shipping lanes open.

“I think it’s time for the US to put its footprint back on Greenland,” envoy Jeff Landry told Agence France-Presse, adding, “Greenland needs the US.”

“I think that you’re seeing the president talk about increasing national security operations and repopulating certain bases in Greenland,” he said.

At the Cold War peak, the US operated 17 military facilities in Greenland but closed most over the decades, leaving only the Pituffik base in the north.

Recent media reports indicate the US plans to open three new bases in southern Greenland.

A 1951 defense pact, updated in 2004, already permits Washington to boost troop deployments and military installations on the island, provided it gives advance notice to Denmark and Greenland.

Trump backed away from threats to seize Greenland in January, and a US-Danish-Greenlandic working group was formed to address his concerns.

Even if a “master’s” desire to “secure control of Greenland … is completely disrespectful … we are obliged to find a solution,” Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen told reporters on the sidelines of a Greenland economic forum Tuesday.

Landry, who also serves as Republican governor of Louisiana, arrived in Nuuk on Sunday without an official invitation, sparking controversy on the island.

Greenlandic and Danish officials have consistently stated that only Greenland can decide its own future.

Landry met with Nielsen and Greenland Foreign Minister Mute Egede on Monday.

Nielsen described the talks as “constructive” but said there was “no sign … that anything has changed” in the US position.

In an interview published Wednesday in the Greenlandic daily Sermitsiaq, Landry encouraged Greenland’s independence aspirations.

Polls show a majority of Greenlanders favor eventual independence from Denmark, but the government has no immediate plans due to unresolved issues, particularly the island’s economy, which relies heavily on Danish subsidies.

“I think there are some incredible opportunities that can actually lift Greenlanders from dependency to independence,” Landry said in the interview.

“I think that the president of the United States would like to see the country become economically independent. And I think it’s possible here,” he added.

Controversy deepened as Landry was accompanied by a US doctor who told Danish TV2 he was there “to assess the medical needs” in Greenland.

Denmark and Greenland in February rejected Trump’s offer to send a naval hospital ship “to take care of the many people who are sick, and not being taken care of there.”

Greenland Health Minister Anna Wangenheim criticized the doctor’s presence.

“Greenlanders are not guinea pigs in a geopolitical project,” she said.