In a bid to blunt US President Donald J. Trump’s claims on Greenland, ministers from the Nordic nations met in Denmark on Wednesday (February 18, 2026), but the outcome of their meeting has yet to emerge.
Reports prior to the meeting suggested that the Nordic governments’ minister would discuss elevating Greenland and two other autonomous territories to qual status in their regional forum as a measure to counter Trump’s moves to take physical control of the Arctic island.
Denmark, which administratively controls Greenland, and other European allies of the US and NATO nations have already rejected the Trump’s claims that the Arctic island must be handed over the US.
These European nations have launched talks last month among Copenhagen, Nuuk, and Washington to ge the issues resolved without a diplomatic fallout among them.
According to officials, the talks on February 18 focused on upgrading the Helsinki Treaty, adopted in 1962 by Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, and Norway, to give full fights to the Danish-ruled Greenland and Faroe Islands, and Finnish-administered Aland, all three autonomous territories.
These autonomous regions have for decades sought equal status in the Nordic Forum, but were kept out of meetings on security and such matters as the Ukraine war, leading to Nuuk boycotting the format in 2024.
“An update of the Helsinki Treaty will be a historic step and a future-proofing of Nordic co-operation,” Denmark’s minister for Nordic cooperation, Morten Dahlin, said in a statement.
Greenland will actively participate in creating a commission to update the agreement, the island’s Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt said in the statement.
“The process surrounding the Helsinki Treaty will be decisive in determining whether Greenland can be recognised as an equal partner in Nordic cooperation,” Motzfeldt said.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen had earlier this month said that if his people were forced to choose between the US and Denmark, they would choose Denmark.
Opinion polls held in Greenland among its 57,000 residents have turned a majority in favour of independence from Denmark.
But there was also caution not to expose themselves to US machinations later and exposure due to the island territory’s overdependence on Copenhagen for economic activity.