President Trump’s special envoy to Greenland, Gov. Jeff Landry of Louisiana, came to the island this week on a self-proclaimed good will mission to “make a bunch of friends.”
So far, he has not found many.
Within hours of landing on Sunday in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, Mr. Landry was touring the town in a cold drizzle when one Greenlander gave his entourage the finger.
After he offered some MAGA hats to Greenlandic children, several shook their heads.
He even told some kids that if they came to his mansion in Louisiana, they could have “all the chocolate chip cookies you can eat.”
The next day, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, Greenland’s prime minister, expressed his discomfort with the whole thing.
“We have our red lines,” he told DR, Denmark’s public broadcaster. “And no matter how many chocolate cookies we get, we are not going to change them.”
Mr. Landy’s high-profile visit — his first since being appointed in December as Mr. Trump’s point person on Greenland — comes at an exceedingly awkward time. Confidential negotiations over Greenland’s future have been unfolding in Washington, and officials have told The New York Times that Greenland’s leaders are wary of the direction in which the talks are headed.
The United States is insisting on a much bigger role in Greenland, perhaps not as drastic as seizing the island as Mr. Trump has threatened, but with major oversight over the country’s economic and security affairs.
The Trump administration wants effective veto power over any sizable investment deals to box out competitors like Russia and China, officials said. And the American officials are pushing to insert a forever clause into a decades-old military agreement so that if Greenland ever becomes independent, U.S. troops will remain on the island.
Mr. Trump has said he needs Greenland for national security reasons, and there is no doubt that the Arctic island is a huge piece of the North American security picture. It is more than 1,500 miles long and 600 miles wide, and sits high up in the Arctic Circle, a region that is increasingly contested by China, Russia, the United States and Europe.
But the way Mr. Trump has constantly threatened the island, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark, and vowed to “get” it, “one way or the other,” has frightened, angered and alienated many Greenlanders.
Greenlandic officials are watching Mr. Landry’s trip closely and have taken issue with an American doctor accompanying the governor to assess the medical situation. The Danish territory’s health care system, which is publicly supported, is one of the top reasons Greenlanders cite for not wanting to join the United States. They fear losing their Scandinavian-style social net under an American system that to them stands for vast inequality and dysfunction.
“Greenlanders are not experimental subjects in a geopolitical project,” said Greenland’s health minister, Anna Wangenheim.
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As Mr. Landry was sightseeing on Sunday, several onlookers scowled at him.
“They should fix their own country first,” said Hanne Hansen, a homemaker.
“They need to get out,” said her friend, Vivi Nielsen.
To Nuuk’s residents, the trip seemed tone-deaf. Mr. Landry’s delegation carried cardboard boxes stuffed with red MAGA hats but few residents wanted them. Greenlandic entrepreneurs have made their own version: red baseball caps that read, “Make America Go Away.”
Mr. Landry’s tour guide was Jørgen Boassen, a former bricklayer who has emerged as the No. 1 Trump fan on the island but is reviled by many locals.
“Traitor!” and “Shame on you!” residents yelled as he walked past with Mr. Landry.
Mr. Landry would not discuss the negotiations and his visit was timed to catch a business conference that started on Tuesday in Nuuk. Sessions include talks on cryptomining and hybrid warfare and one titled, “What we need to understand about the United States.”
“I’m going to try to make as many friends, see as many things, talk to folks, and see if there are additional opportunities where the U.S. could engage economically — and certainly create opportunities for Greenlanders as well,” he told reporters.
American investors, including allies of Mr. Trump, have been scouring the island for deals in water, minerals and energy. A former Green Beret who served as an adviser during Mr. Trump’s first term even floated a plan to build a gigantic data center on a remote fjord.
The Trump Administration is clearly expanding operations in Greenland and reopening old military bases to bring in more troops for Arctic training exercises. This week, the United States will upgrade its consulate, moving from a little red house on the outskirts of Nuuk to one of the few office buildings in town.
Mr. Landry said he spoke to Mr. Trump over the weekend and that the president encouraged him to “make a bunch of friends.”
When asked by journalists what kind of friends, Mr. Landry replied: “All kinds of friends.”
But in an emotional speech at the business conference on Tuesday, a young Greenlandic woman expressed a different sentiment. “Trump wants to buy a country. Our country,” she said. “But what about us?
“Would he buy us too?”
Jeffrey Gettleman is an international correspondent based in London covering global events. He has worked for The Times for more than 20 years.
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