Greenlanders are reeling with shock fear and disbelief as US President Donald Trump intensifies his controversial bid to annex the Arctic island a move that has ignited a full-blown geopolitical storm.

Speaking to CNBC Greenland’s Minister for Business and Mineral Resources Naaja Nathanielsen said the situation has been nothing short of devastating for the island’s small population of roughly 57,000 people.

In an interview on Tuesday just ahead of Trump’s address at the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland Nathanielsen described the sudden global spotlight on Greenland as deeply unsettling. What was once a relatively quiet existence on the world stage has almost overnight turned into a crisis that has left many Greenlanders anxious and shaken.

People are worried. People are afraid. People are bewildered Nathanielsen said capturing the emotional toll of Trump’s pursuit of the self governing Danish territory.

For decades Greenland has viewed the United States as a trusted ally. According to Nathanielsen, the island has consistently sought to accommodate US strategic and military interests in the Arctic and has done so willingly. That history makes the current situation all the more painful.

‘We have always considered ourselves an ally of the US and have tried to meet American needs over the years happily,’ she said via video call. To suddenly find ourselves in the middle of a storm where we are being talked about as something to be acquired like a product or a piece of property is incredibly difficult.

That sense of unease has been compounded by Trump’s refusal to rule out the use of military force. While the president declined to comment when asked directly by NBC whether he would deploy troops to seize Greenland, he has repeatedly framed the island as imperative to US national security. In a social media post on Tuesday, Trump declared, ‘There can be no going back.

The rhetoric escalated further over the weekend when Trump threatened to impose sweeping tariffs on eight European countries beginning Feb 1, punishing them for opposing the US acquisition of Greenland.

The threats drew swift backlash from European leaders. French President Emmanuel Macron called the idea fundamentally unacceptable, while British Prime Minister Keir Starmer described it as completely wrong.

Nathanielsen said she was deeply moved by the show of European solidarity. You cannot accept a world where one ally occupies another ally she said underscoring the dangerous precedent such an action would set.

The backlash has not been limited to diplomatic channels. Protests have erupted in Greenland’s capital Nuuk as well as in Copenhagen, with demonstrators waving red and white Greenlandic flags and marching in defense of their sovereignty. Opinion polls consistently show that Greenlanders overwhelmingly oppose US control of the island even as a strong majority support eventual independence from Denmark.

While Greenlanders are no strangers to geopolitical tension having lived through colonial rule under Denmark Nathanielsen warned that this moment represents something entirely new.

We have always known that our geographic position creates tension she said. We are used to complexity and controversy. But right now we are facing a threat we have never seen before.

She did not mince words about the potential consequences. If we were to become occupied that would mean the destruction of our culture. I find that absolutely devastating.

Greenland’s leaders are now seeking ways to engage in dialogue with the United States without losing control of their future. Lawmaker Nathanielsen said he wants clarity on how cooperation could continue without being swallowed up.

The threat of occupation is not something we can work with at all she emphasized. We do not want to be bought. We have made that very clear. And of course we do not want to be occupied. What country in the world would?

Instead, Greenland is calling for diplomacy over domination. We want dialogue. We want collaboration. And we want to lower the temperature Nathanielsen said.

Under the 2009 Self-Government Act, Greenland gained greater control over its domestic affairs and the legal right to hold an independence referendum, though Denmark still oversees foreign policy defense and security. The island’s political future remains a delicate balancing act between its long-term goal of independence and its reliance on Danish financial support for essential services like healthcare and education.

Earlier this month, Aaja Chemnitz, a Greenlandic MP in the Danish Parliament, summed up the core grievance driving public anger. Greenlanders, she said, want to ensure they are not treated as commodities.

“You cannot buy a country,” Chemnitz told CNBC. But you also cannot buy a population.

At the heart of the crisis lies a simple demand from Greenland’s people: recognition of their humanity their culture and their right to decide their own future free from threats tariffs or takeover talk.