Alaska Senate Vows Friendship With Greenland, Showing Deep Trans-Arctic Ties

 

Alaska Senate resolution highlights ‘mutual respect’ and cooperation with Greenland

from The Alaska Beacon.  BY: YERETH ROSEN-FEBRUARY 27, 2026 

 The red and white flag of Greenland, along with those from other far-north regions, hangs from the chalet at Government Peak Recreation Center in Palmer while cross-country skiers race on March 14, 2024, during the Arctic Winter Games. The competition, which drew 2,000 competitors from Alaska, Canada, Greenland and northern Scandinavia, is an example of cultural and social ties between Alaska and Greenland. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

As President Donald Trump presses for a takeover of Greenland, some Alaska state lawmakers are trying to send a different message about state cooperation with the Arctic island.

A resolution recently introduced in the state Senate, Senate Joint Resolution 24, seeks to promote continued friendship, cooperation and “mutual respect” between Alaska and Greenland, an autonomous and self-ruling territory that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and with a mostly Inuit population that has cultural ties to Alaska’s Indigenous peoples.

The resolution expresses a commitment “to fostering friendship, mutual respect, and long-term cooperation between the peoples of the state and Greenland in support of a peaceful, prosperous, and resilient Arctic.”

It names multiple links between Alaska and Greenland. Among those are “Indigenous cultures with histories stretching back millennia,” shared participation in organizations like the Arctic Council and research institutions, shared challenges concerning Arctic climate change and environmental protection and longstanding military collaborations that focus on Arctic security.

Legislative resolutions, which express policy or philosophical positions, do not carry any power of law. But they can influence actions in Congress or other parts of government.

At the first hearing on the resolution, held Thursday by the Senate Special Committee on Arctic Affairs, the main sponsor referred to the Trump administration’s continued Greenland push.

“The impetus for this was the discussions on the federal level that could really disrupt this collaborative and this friendship that we have with other Arctic nations, Denmark and, by extension, Greenland,” said Senate President Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage. Giessel chairs the committee.  

Responding to a question, she said the measure is not intended as a criticism of Trump, although “certainly, there will be people that have that mindset.” Rather, “there’s people who recognize that the Arctic communities, the Arctic circumpolar countries, have such shared values, such shared culture. That’s what really is what we’re trying to emphasize here.”

Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, the committee co-chair, addressed a false claim by Trump that the U.S. previously owned Greenland but returned control to Denmark. Trump made that claim during a speech at an international meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

“I mean, we’ve never owned Greenland. We had a working relationship with it, but that is the truth,” Stevens said at the hearing. “It’s no intention to really slam the administration. But I think facts are facts.”

The resolution was held for further consideration. Its next hearing in the committee is scheduled for March 5.

Trump has continued to apply pressure on the international community in a quest to take control of the Arctic island.

In a January social media post, he announced a 10% tariff, rising to 25% in June, on the Scandinavian nations, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, with money due “until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland.” But this week, he paused that tariff plan.

Trump also announced last week that he was sending a U.S. Navy hospital ship to the island, which he claimed would deliver health care services to Greenlanders that the Danish government was failing to provide. But there is no evidence of any U.S. hospital ship being sent to Greenland, according to the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.

Greenlander’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, dismissed the hospital ship idea.

“President Trump’s idea to send an American hospital ship here to Greenland is noted. But we have a public health system where treatment is free for citizens. It’s a deliberate choice. And a basic part of our society. It’s not like that in the United States, where it costs money to go to the doctor,” Nielsen said in a statement posted on Feb. 22 on Facebook.