Trump taps Louisiana Governor Landry as Greenland envoy

Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Bloomberg News on Dec 21, 2025

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President Donald Trump said he’s nominating Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry as U.S. special envoy to Greenland, in the latest signal that the president retains designs on increasing U.S. influence over the island he’s suggested he wants to purchase.

“Jeff understands how essential Greenland is to our National Security, and will strongly advance our Country’s Interests for the Safety, Security, and Survival of our Allies, and indeed, the World,” Trump said in a social media post Sunday evening.

The post would be a new one for the U.S., which has an ambassador to Denmark. Greenland is an autonomous Danish dependent territory with self-government and its own parliament.

It’s not clear how the position would overlap with Landry’s current role, as the Republican nears the end of his first year as governor of Louisiana. Landry, a former police officer, representative in Congress and state attorney general, has spent most of his career focused on domestic politics. His term as governor is set to end in January 2028.

Trump has shown a keen interest in taking control of Greenland, after first floating the idea of buying the self-ruling territory from Denmark six years ago. But Trump has become more vocal about it in his second term, and deployed key U.S. officials including Vice President JD Vance and Energy Secretary Chris Wright to the Arctic island. Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, also visited Greenland in January, before Trump was sworn in for his second term.

Greenland’s attractiveness to Trump is rooted in its strategic location straddling the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans, waters that are growing more accessible with climate change. The island is already home to the U.S.’s northernmost air base and a radar station used for detecting missile threats.

Senior officials from the U.S., Denmark and Greenland were expected to meet this month to discuss military and civil cooperation.

Trump’s focus has been eyed warily by residents of Greenland and Denmark — and it’s drawn scrutiny from Danish intelligence officials. The Danish Defense Intelligence Service for the first time earlier this month described the U.S. as a potential security risk, noting the U.S.’s efforts to wield its economic and technological strengths as a tool of power to friend and foe.