NUUK, Greenland—Jeff Landry, the envoy chosen by President Trump to win hearts and minds in Greenland, walked through the quiet morning streets of the capital this week, trailed by a local woman.
“Colonists, go home,” she shouted at the Louisiana governor and his entourage. “We don’t want you here.”
Landry said Trump sent him to Greenland this week to “listen and learn” and “make a bunch of friends.” He was warmly welcomed by many locals and Greenlandic leaders, who accused him of arriving uninvited in an attempt to bypass official diplomatic channels.
Landry rejected such criticism in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “They have no say in what the policy of the United States is,” he said. “Tell them to bring it up with Donald Trump.”
A few hundred yards across the street from where the woman was yelling at Landry, hundreds of officials, business leaders and decision makers had gathered at a conference center to discuss Greenland’s economic future.
Landry was not invited. He paid his own way to attend as a private citizen. He spent less than an hour on the opening day of the event, instead choosing to meet Greenlanders outside the conference, in coffee shops and private homes.
His delegation also included his wife, dressed as a hunter; his twin sister; an ex-Green Beret who helped with logistics; and a doctor who volunteered to assess medical needs on the island. They were instructed by Jørgen Bossen, a Greenlandic mason who works for the Trump administration Primary contact in Greenland.
Boesen spends most of his time abroad because of the pressures he says he has faced since coming out as Greenland’s only publicly ardent MAGA supporter. He also helped arrange the visit of Donald Trump Jr. and the late Charlie Kirk last year. He wants Greenland to leave the Kingdom of Denmark and enter into a type of free-association agreement with the US that would protect it militarily and recognize the rights of its Inuit people.
Landry’s mission this week to pull Greenland closer to America’s orbit was his first visit to the Arctic island, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Landry’s appointment is emblematic of Trump’s approach to diplomacy. The President has entrusted significant parts of his foreign policy to envoys outside traditional State Department channels, such as Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
But Witkoff and Kushner have often been welcomed as official White House representatives. Landry got a very different welcome in Greenland this week.
His visit was seen by the leaders of Denmark and Greenland as an attempt to bypass official channels between the US, Greenland and Denmark, including a working group launched in January to discuss the US presence on the island.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Fredrik Nielsen said in an interview that Landry’s visit was inappropriate. “Any discussion about our relationship and the current situation must take place in the working group,” Nielsen said.
Many also saw it as an attempt to influence public opinion on the island and identify people who would be willing to amplify the American message against Danish rule.
“He may be there to gather information and contacts, but he is also likely there with the intention of using such information and contacts to further Trump’s ambition to control Greenland,” said Rasmus Sinding Sondergaard, senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, a Copenhagen-based think tank.
Landry attended a meeting between the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Greenland and US Ambassador to Denmark Kenneth Howery. Both officials said Greenland would communicate with the US only through official channels.
Landry rejected the criticism that he was visiting without an official invitation and that he had attended the conference as an excuse to travel to Greenland in a private capacity.
Landry said, “I know what the game is here. They want to see who I’m talking to. I don’t want them to see who I’m talking to, because I want people to be able to talk to me openly.” “I want them to express either frustration or irritation in honest conversations, and frankly, I understand that.”
In February, after consulting with Landry, Trump proposed sending a hospital ship to Greenland, arriving at a tragic spot on the island, where There is pressure on the health care system Due to vast distances and lack of staff. During the four-day visit, Dr. Joseph Griffin, part of Landry’s delegation, asked residents about their health care concerns and whether they still practiced indigenous medicine.
On Wednesday morning, Landry and his delegation walked up the hill from their hotel, carrying baseball caps emblazoned with “Make America Great Again” and “USA” to the home of Nikolaj Heinrich, the 88-year-old former mayor of Nuuk.
“Before Trump, the United States didn’t pay any attention to Greenland. But now, we’re going to pay more attention,” Landry told Heinrich.
Over buttery raisin bread and tea, Landry and Henrik, who also heads the national fishing union, agreed that Greenland would benefit from more direct trade with the US – something that Copenhagen supports, but which has historically been complicated by logistics and limited demand.
Special envoys like Landry, who arrived wearing jeans on a government plane, are not answerable to the US Senate and cannot be called in for consultations by the Danish Foreign Ministry, as the US ambassador is.
“While there are diplomatic relations behind closed doors, there is also external pressure in the form of Landry, whose aim is to curry favor with Greenlanders but also to demonstrate that the US maintains its ambition to control Greenland,” Sondergaard said. “This is a reminder that if negotiations do not go in its favor, the US can activate other avenues, intensify influence operations, or even return to threats,” he said.
However, Landry’s position also allows the Danish government to ignore him. No Danish minister was in Greenland this week. The Foreign Ministry sent senior officials to meet Havery and Landry, and said that Denmark was “properly represented”.
“US special envoy Jeffrey Landry is not part of the diplomatic process we initiated in Washington in January,” the ministry said.
Landry, a former police officer and businessman who also served with the National Guard in the Gulf War, has no prior foreign policy experience. Kristian Jeremisen, a local politician who invited Landry, said he was scheduled to travel to Greenland to compete in a dog sled competition in March, but the trip was canceled due to opposition from race organizers.
The working group established in January between the US, Denmark and Greenland has met about five times to discuss the US presence on the island, according to officials familiar with the discussions.
According to a 1951 defense treaty, the US already has the right to deploy troops and build bases in Greenland. However, the treaty is dependent on US membership in NATO, which Trump has thrown into doubt. According to officials, Washington is now seeking to modify the agreement to allow U.S. troops to remain in Greenland indefinitely, beyond possible Greenlandic independence from Denmark.
The US is eyeing military expansion into new areas in Greenland, including the southern city of Narsarsuaq and Kangerlussuaq, north of Nuuk. Officials say the existing treaty would allow such a move. The US had a presence in those areas during World War II, and currently flies Hercules C-130 military transport aircraft from Kangerlussuaq for several months of the year.
The conference, Future Greenland, was marked by a lack of American companies.
“Businesses are concerned about the local impact on them and their brands when they collaborate with Americans,” said Christian Kledsen, managing director of the Greenland Business Association, which organized the conference. “This is a real shame because Greenland has worked for decades to attract investment and interest from, among others, the US”
Before returning to Louisiana, Landry rejected the idea that Greenlanders should be wary of America.
“I don’t come with any threat,” he said. “Or certainly, I come with much more of an opportunity.”
Write to Sune Engel Rasmussen sune.rasmussen@wsj.com
