Screenshot from a Youtube video on White House spokesperson briefing on January 15, 2026.

The deployment of European troops in Greenland will not alter US President Donald Trump's plan to take over the Arctic island, the White House spokesperson claimed, according to media reports. The remarks came as European countries move to reinforce Greenland's defenses, while many netizens on overseas social media platforms voiced criticism over Washington's mounting pressure on the territory.

"I don't think troops in Europe impacts the president's decision-making process or impact his goal of the acquisition of Greenland at all," White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday when asked whether recent announcements of European boots on the ground would affect Trump's calculus, according to a report from the Politico. 

This week, several European nations including France, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Norway and the Netherlands said they would send troops to Greenland to take part in a Danish military exercise — with some of them already there. Estonia is participating in the planning and "is ready to put boots on the ground if requested." NATO is not involved in the military exercise, which is an inter-governmental drill, per Politico. 

Europeans are fully capable of defending their territory against any threat, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Thursday, stressing that Greenland is a European territory whose security is inseparable from that of Europe, the Xinhua News Agency reported. 

Barrot arrived in Riga on Thursday for talks with his Latvian counterpart Baiba Braze, focusing on European security amid Washington's plans on Greenland. At a news conference following the meeting, Barrot underlined that Greenland is a European territory, and security in the Arctic cannot be separated from European security, according to the report. 

The US president has repeatedly threatened the use of military force to seize the Arctic island. After meeting with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the White House on Wednesday, the Danish foreign minister said Denmark and Greenland "still have a fundamental disagreement" with Washington, according to the Politico. 

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has promised a new security strategy for Europe, against a backdrop of US threats to annex Greenland. She said the EU was doubling down in its economic support for Greenland and Arctic and Arctic security, she added, were both core topics for the EU, according to the Guardian on Friday. 

Also on Thursday, Turkish media outlet TRT World released a video showing Greenland's Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt becoming "visibly emotional during a live interview," in which she described the pressure facing her government. 

"We have been working very hard in our department, even though there are not many of us," Motzfeldt said, per a translation by Clash Report, during an interview with Greenland's Kalaallit Nunaata Radio on Wednesday. "We are doing our utmost. But the last days, naturally… Oh, I am getting very emotional. I am overwhelmed." 

She added: "The last days have been tough. Our preparations and the increasing pressure that has been intense. But I want to say, we are strong in the government. The work is to ensure the Greenlandic people in our country can feel safe and live securely. We are using all our strength to achieve this as we continue the work," according to the report. 

The video clip featuring Motzfeldt has circulated on overseas social media. For example, the TRT World video has been viewed about 22,000 times, while a version posted by Cash Report has garnered around 728,000 views.

These posts drew widespread sympathy from netizens, many of whom voiced support for Greenland, with some saying they "stand with Greenland." User "Anger Welder" commented: "A hard life lesson—never be dependent on anyone else. Just like individuals, a nation must be able to stand on its own. Long-term reliance, especially in military terms, only weakens a nation's presence and capabilities."

Meanwhile, the video clip featuring the White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt's remarks on Thursday also drew extensive comments on Youtube. One netizen, @Trikie77, wrote: "I'm from Greenland, and no one here wants to become American—absolutely no one. If we ever had to choose a country, it would be Denmark."

Another user, @yeon723, commented that the spokesperson's remarks sounded like: "For my own security, I will come take your house." @erikkorhonen wrote that "you probably should get your own country under control before thinking you can handle more land." @Steve-OhNo suggested to "kick US bases out of Europe."

@YewanMemnos-e3m added: "You can continue to threaten Greenland all you like. No amount of threats or intimidation is ever going to force Denmark, Greenland, or the sane members of NATO to give it to the US."

Some Western and media in other regions have run extensive coverage in recent days on developments involving the US' attempt to take Greenland. In a report published on Thursday, while covering Europe's deployment of troops to Greenland as a message to Trump, The Wall Street Journal noted that "for the first time in NATO's history, America's closest allies are using their troops to thwart possible US action."

Fifteen French mountain infantry soldiers marched onto a runway late Wednesday and boarded a bus labeled "Greenland Excursions," their first step in a mission to deter a US invasion of the Arctic island, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

In a report on Thursday, Reuters noted that "the modest European deployments, meant to help Denmark prepare military exercises, sent a strong message of support a day after a meeting of officials from the US, Denmark and Greenland failed to reach any breakthrough on the impasse.

Denmark's defense minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, told journalists in Copenhagen on Thursday he did not have a final figure for the envisaged expanded NATO presence in Greenland. "But it is clear that we now will be able to plan for a larger and more permanent presence throughout 2026 and that is crucial to show that security in the Arctic is not only for the Kingdom of Denmark, it is for all of NATO," per Reuters.

A report from the Aljazeera on Friday noted that the mission of the European soldiers has been "described as a recognition-of-the-territory exercise with troops to plant the European Union's flag on Greenland as a symbolic act." It also noted that there was a "sense of urgency" among European nations, "particularly after the US's actions in Venezuela," a sense that when the US leader says something, "he actually means it."

The report noted that the prospect of the US descending on Greenland to tap its minerals has struck fear into Inuit communities around the town of Ilulissat, perched beside an ice fjord on the western side of the island. It cited Inuit Greenlander Karl Sandgreen, head of the Ilulissat Icefjord visitor center, as saying that his fears are for the Inuit way of life.