The Danish prime minister arrived in Greenland on Friday for talks on the island’s future after President Donald Trump seemingly deescalated his threats to take over the Arctic territory.

Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen flew to Nuuk from Brussels, where she attended a summit of European Union leaders and met with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. In the Greenlandic capital she will hold talks with the territory’s premier, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, but they’re not expected to speak to media.

“We agree that NATO should increase its engagement in the Arctic,” Frederiksen said in another post on X after meeting with Rutte. “Defense and security in the Arctic are a matter for the entire alliance.”

The U.S. president has said he’d agreed to a “framework” with Rutte over Greenland. Trump has also said he won’t use force to take over the territory, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark but has its own government. The comments have been welcomed by Danish and Greenlandic leaders as signs of deescalation, though policymakers have also voiced skepticism about whether Trump might change course again.

For the Nordic leaders, the red line in any agreement is sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as Greenlanders’ right of self-determination. They’ve both signaled they’re prepared to discuss all other aspects of how better to secure the Arctic.

In Copenhagen, Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said on Friday that only a framework — not an actual agreement — has been established on Greenland following talks involving Rutte and Trump. The foreign minister told reporters that work is now under way to draw up a plan for a solution between the U.S. and Denmark, “which also has a NATO dimension.”

Meanwhile, Greenland’s Nielsen said Thursday he’s open to options including a permanent North Atlantic Treaty Organization mission.

Frederiksen has throughout the crisis stayed firm.

On Thursday, she appeared to be dismissing the solution forged by Rutte, saying he “has no mandate” to negotiate on behalf of the Kingdom of Denmark on Greenland sovereignty issues. Later that day she’d eased up a little, indicating negotiations are the way forward, with one caveat.

“This must, of course, take place in a proper and respectful manner, and we are now testing whether that can be done,” she said in Brussels.

Sometimes called Denmark’s ‘Iron Lady’ — a moniker originally coined in the 1970s to describe then-U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher — Frederiksen has cherished her image as a tough, uncompromising leader who despises weakness.

She’s no stranger to crises, having first found herself in Trump’s cross-hairs in 2019, during the president’s first term when he first voiced his interest in the Arctic territory. Trump called her “nasty” and canceled a trip to Denmark. In 2022, she was reelected by the skin of her teeth in an early ballot called amid controversy over a pandemic-era mink cull, where she was seen overstepping her powers.

On Jan. 5, a few days into Trump resurfacing the idea of taking over the semi-autonomous Danish territory, Frederiksen jolted the world by saying that any U.S. attack on the Arctic island would be the end of the NATO alliance. That ended up escalating the crisis.

Accordingly, the Danish strategy has been to keep Frederiksen largely in the background, drumming up support from global leaders and keeping Greenland in the loop, while Rasmussen, the foreign minister, has played the role of chief negotiator. Last week, he was dispatched to Washington alongside his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt, for talks that ended up paving the way for Wednesday’s deal.

Still, Frederiksen, who hadn’t gone to Davos, participated on a call with Trump and Rutte after the president had announced the deal, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private talks.

She’s also kept phone lines running hot with other leaders, many of whom have noted in public they’ve recently spoken with the 48-year-old premier. On Thursday, she sat down with Keir Starmer at the U.K. prime minister’s country estate Chequers.

Danes seem to approve of Frederiksen’s handling of the crisis. According to a poll published by TV2 on Friday, her Social Democratic party had 22.7% backing, compared with just 17.7% one month ago. Rasmussen’s party, the Moderates, also rose in the poll, which was conducted by Megafon. A similar pattern played out in opinion polls one year ago, when Frederiksen also had to respond to Trump’s threats over Greenland.

Her position — and strong reactions — are also eliciting empathy.

“Most people don’t have a direct connection to Greenland. But you should try to imagine what happens when another country questions whether a country’s borders even exist — and should be respected,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Thursday.

“There are quite a few countries that have islands located some distance from the mainland. Quite a few can imagine how they themselves would react if another country made claims to those islands,” Kristersson said. “Denmark’s reaction has been completely natural.”

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—With assistance from Rafaela Lindeberg.

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