Greenland PM Múte Bourup Egede: Facing Trump & Greenland's Future

It was a surprise when Jens-Frederik Nielsen’s social-liberal party Demokraatit became the largest in the elections in Greenland in the spring of 2025. Not only did the socialist Inuit Ataqatigiit and liberal Siumut, who usually form a government, lose many votes, with Nielsen, Greenland also got the youngest prime minister the country had had up to that point on April 7. What do we know about him?

Nielsen, 34, enjoys hunting elk. His social media features proud photos of a killed moose at his feet, ready to be slaughtered. His love is not the reason his party became the largest. He owed this to his clear message to American President Donald Trump. His comments about Greenland ‘endanger our political independence’ Nielsen stated during the campaign.

In addition, he has clear plans to first make Greenland more economically independent from Denmark before pursuing political independence. He previously served briefly as minister of industry and raw materials, and his position clearly deviated from the line taken by the Inuit Ataqatigiit party in recent years. He wants to relax licensing for raw material mining to attract more companies. Tourism had to become another source of income.

Nielsen wants to maintain good ties with Denmark, unlike the party that came second in the elections, the populist Naleraq. This party wants a radical break with the Danes and close cooperation with the US, without immediately wanting to become part of it. Nielsen formed a broad coalition government to emphasize unity, but without Naleraq.

Almost every post on Nielsen’s Instagram is now liked by Danish Prime Minister Mette Fredriksen. He emphasizes that Greenland is not for sale and that Trump will not get Greenland. In many photos he stands in a sporty turtleneck next to a Greenlandic flag or he can be found at the fish and seal market in the capital Nuuk. Moreover, he and Fredriksen reached an agreement this summer about compensation for Greenlandic women who were forced to use contraception in the last century.

Badminton players

Nielsen’s Danish father moved to Greenland when he was ten and married a Greenlandic woman. Nielsen was born on June 22, 1991 in Nuuk. According to Reuters, he was already interested in politics as a student. He studied social sciences at the University of Greenland. He was a fanatic badminton player and successful at the international sports event Island Games. He reached the World Cup in 2019, where he had no chance. He did attract attention: a Greenlandic athlete, that was exceptional. This prompted the Danish Sporttv2.dk to interview him. “It feels completely absurd that people want to take a picture with us, we mean nothing here,” Nielsen put all the attention into perspective.

In 2022, he briefly made the news for lashing out at Russia when it attacked Ukraine. He called on the Greenlandic fishing company Polar Seafood to impose sanctions on Russia. Knowing that it wouldn’t do much, but the gesture of international solidarity was important enough. Even now he often calls for solidarity among his own population. “We are under pressure and that is why we must show solidarity,” he said in his speech when he became prime minister. He reinforces this solidarity in his own party by accompanying Greenlandic songs on the guitar. His social media channels show that he does this with verve and conviction.

Last week he responded to Trump’s new threats with the words: “No more pressure. No more innuendo. No more fantasies about annexation.”