Denmark takes over as chair of the Arctic Council at a time when Trump eyes Greenland

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Denmark takes over the Arctic Council’s rotating chairmanship from Norway at a time when Arctic security tensions are fraught and U.S. President Donald Trump is seeking to annex Greenland

TROMSOE, Norway -- Denmark on Monday takes over the Arctic Council’s rotating chairmanship from Norway at a time when Arctic security tensions are fraught and U.S. President Donald Trump is seeking to annex Greenland.

Denmark chose to name Vivian Motzfeldt, Greenland’s foreign affairs minister, to be the new chair of the council, the eight-nation grouping of countries that border the Arctic. Denmark has rebuffed Trump's talk of buying the strategic Arctic island, a semi-autonomous territory of the kingdom.

During Norway's two-year turn at the helm of the Arctic Council, the intergovernmental body was beset by strain over how to deal with Trump and Russia's war in Ukraine. Russia is the biggest Arctic nation and was the chair of the council before Norway.

It was one of the few settings where Western countries and Russia worked together closely, but the other seven countries decided to pause their work with Russia in the council shortly after Moscow launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The Arctic Council does not deal with security issues but makes binding agreements on environmental protection and gives a voice to the Indigenous peoples of the Arctic region.

The members are Russia, the United States, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. Six organizations representing Arctic Indigenous peoples are permanent participants of the council, which was established in 1996. Countries including France, Germany, China, Japan, India and Korea attend the council's meetings as observers.