Thousands of people in Denmark and Greenland gathered over the weekend to protest the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to acquire the semi-autonomous Danish territory, some donning a new take on MAGA’s globally recognized “Make America Great Again” slogan.
Approximately 10,000 Danes marched outside Copenhagen City Hall in defiance of the U.S. president’s pursuit of Greenland.
The demonstrations drew diverse crowds, from older citizens to young families. Some wore hats modelled on Trump’s red MAGA caps but with “Make America Go Away” written on them. Others flew Greenlandic flags and held signs reading “Hands off Greenland.”
Demonstrators gather to protest against U.S. actions and remarks suggesting control over Greenland in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Jan. 17, 2026.
Zhang Yuliang/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
“We have to support Greenland,” protester Susanne Kristensen said. “We are Danes, Greenlanders are Danes, even though they’re Greenlanders, and we just have to stick together.”
“I want to show my support to Greenland and also show that I don’t like the president of the United States,” 76-year-old Copenhagen resident Lars Hermansen, who wore one of the red caps at a protest Saturday, told the Associated Press.
The mock hats were created by Copenhagen vintage clothing store owner Jesper Rabe Tonnesen. Early batches flopped last year — until the Trump administration recently escalated its rhetoric over Greenland. Now they’re popping up everywhere.
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Trump said Saturday that he would charge a 10 per cent import tax starting in February on goods from eight European nations because of their opposition to American control of Greenland, which is a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark.
Denmark, alongside the United States and many other countries, including Canada and the United Kingdom, is a member of NATO. Earlier this month, Trump hinted again at taking action in Greenland, calling it a necessary move to preserve U.S. national security, an argument he toyed with last year.
Article 5 is one of the core principles of the 76-year-old military alliance and states that “an armed attack against one NATO member shall be considered an attack against all members, and triggers an obligation for each member to come to its assistance.”
The only time the article has ever been invoked has been after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, though the alliance has never dealt with one member threatening to attack another.
But Trump is insistent that Greenland should be in U.S. hands.
“If we don’t do it the easy way, we’re going to do it the hard way,” he said, having previously expressed his intentions to purchase the Arctic island.
Nicole Covey, a fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, told Global News that, even though the post-war alliance has weathered internal conflicts in the past, a military attack would be uncharted territory.
“There is no precedent for an actual internal attack,” she said. “After all, there is this established norm that allies are not supposed to attack each other if they want to maintain any sort of positive tie.”
European governments are rallying behind Denmark, citing the need to defend Arctic regions and warning that threats against Greenland undermine Western security.
The protest in Denmark also came ahead of the new wave of tariffs imposed by Trump on Denmark and its allies.
Demonstrators gather to protest against U.S. actions and remarks suggesting control over Greenland in front of the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Jan. 17, 2026.
(CLiu Zhichao/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
During the demonstrations, a bipartisan congressional delegation, seeking to show solidarity with Denmark and Greenland, was in the Danish capital to meet with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and other Danish and Greenlandic leaders.
“It makes a huge difference that Congress members come here and listen,” Kristime Due, who was at the protest in Copenhagen, told NBC News.
FILE – Former President Donald Trump throws autographed hats to the crowd during the final round of the Bedminster Invitational LIV Golf tournament in Bedminster, N.J., Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023.
AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File
Foreign affairs spokesman Flemming Møller Mortensen said Friday that people in Denmark and Greenland are scared by the escalation and Trump’s apparent willingness to bypass diplomacy.
“We feel frightened,” Mortensen said. “Especially the people living in Greenland, both adults but also youngsters and kids,” Mortensen said.
— With files from Global News’ Uday Rana and the Associated Press
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
