Скачать или смотреть Swedish defense minister reaffirms support for Greenland, seeks 'constructive' way forward

(19 Jan 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Brussels - 19 January 2026
1. Wide of a journalist and a camera
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Pal Jonson, Swedish Defence Minister:
"I don't want to speculate in things that have not come. I think our position has been very clear. I think no one has a shadow of doubt that all the Nordics are very much supporting our friends from Greenland and Denmark, we're standing up for their territorial integrity. We're being constructive now by participating also in Arctic endurance. And I know there's a political process that the Denmark and the United States have agreed on. So let's have that process as a way forward. I think that is the best way, the more constructive way forward."
3. Close of a camera
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Pal Jonson, Swedish Defence Minister:
"So it's natural that NATO pay more attention to what's happening up in the high north. Of course, we take note of course, China being active in the region, predominantly when it comes to research vessels. And we also know that Russia is resettling some of its military installations that they have been having up there during the Cold War."
5. Close of a camera
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Pal Jonson, Swedish Defence Minister:
"What we're doing right now is, together with many allies right now, we're doing what is called a reconnaissance tour in order to identify what kind of needs there are when it comes to infrastructure and exercises and so forth. And I think this is could be a way forward also for getting the alliance as such involved into expanding its footprint also on Greenland."
7. Jonson leaving
STORYLINE:
Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson reaffirmed support for Greenland on Monday after US President Donald Trump vowed to impose a 10% import tax on goods from eight nations that have opposed American control of Greenland.

“I think no one has a shadow of doubt that all the Nordics are very much supporting our friends from Greenland and Denmark, we're standing up for their territorial integrity. We're being constructive now by participating also in Arctic endurance,” he said to the media in Brussels.

Greenland’s European backers are also looking at setting up a more permanent military presence in the High North to help guarantee security in the Arctic region, a key demand of the United States, Jonson said.

He said European members of NATO are currently “doing what’s called a reconnaissance tour in order to identify what kind of needs there are when it comes to infrastructure and exercises and so forth.”

“What we take note of is that the United States has indeed pointed out that more attention needs to be brought into the High North and to the Arctic,” Jonson told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels, after talks with his counterparts from Denmark, Greenland and Norway.

It comes as Trump linked his aggressive stance on Greenland to last year’s decision not to award him the Nobel Peace Prize, telling Norway’s prime minister that he no longer felt “an obligation to think purely of Peace,” in a text message released on Monday.

Trump's message to Jonas Gahr Støre appears to ratchet up a standoff between Washington and its closest allies over his threats to take over Greenland, a self-governing territory of NATO member Denmark.

On Saturday, Trump announced a 10% import tax starting in February on goods from eight nations that have rallied around Denmark and Greenland, including Norway.

Those countries issued a forceful rebuke. 

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