Pro-Greenland protesters mock Trump with ‘Make America Go Away’ hats – National
Thousands of people in Denmark and Greenland gathered over the weekend to protest the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to secure an independent Danish territory, with some donating MAGA’s world-renowned slogan “Make America Great Again”.
About 10,000 Danes marched outside Copenhagen City Hall against the US president’s pursuit of Greenland.
The fairs drew a diverse crowd, from adults to young families. Others wore hats modeled after Trump’s red MAGA caps but with “Make America Go Away” written on them. Others flew Greenlandic flags and held signs that read “Hands off Greenland.”
Demonstrators gather to protest US actions and claims to take control of Greenland in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Jan. 17, 2026.
Zhang Yuliang/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
“We have to support Greenland,” said protester Susanne Kristensen. “We are Danes, Greenlanders are Danes, even though they are Greenlanders, and we just have to stick together.”
“I want to show my support for Greenland and also show that I don’t like the president of the United States,” Copenhagen resident Lars Hermansen, 76, who wore red caps at Saturday’s protest, told the Associated Press.
The funny hats were created by Copenhagen vintage clothing store owner Jesper Rabe Tonnesen. The first batches exploded last year – until the Trump administration recently stepped up its talk about Greenland. Now they appear everywhere.
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Trump said on Saturday that he would impose a 10 percent import tax from February on the goods of eight European countries because of their opposition to the US control of Greenland, which is a territory under NATO ally Denmark.
Denmark, along with the United States and many other countries, including Canada and the United Kingdom, is a member of NATO. Earlier this month, Trump also commented on taking action in Greenland, calling it a necessary step to maintain the security of the United States, a dispute he played with last year.
Article 5 is one of the key principles of the 76-year-old military alliance and states that “an armed attack by one NATO member shall be considered an attack by all members, and shall result in the obligation of each member to assist.”
The only time this title was used was after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, although the coalition has never had one member threaten to attack another.
But Trump insists that Greenland should be in American hands.
“If we don’t do it the easy way, we will do it the hard way,” he said, as he previously expressed his intentions to buy an Arctic island.
Nicole Covey, a fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, told Global News that, although the post-war coalition has faced internal conflicts in the past, military attacks will be uncharted territory.
“There is no precedent for an actual insider attack,” he said. “After all, there is this established condition that partners should not attack each other if they want to maintain any kind of good bond.”
European governments followed Denmark, expressing the need to protect the Arctic regions and warning that threats against Greenland undermine the security of the West.
The Danish protest also came before a new wave of tariffs imposed by Trump on Denmark and its allies.
Demonstrators gather to protest US actions and comments that suggest taking control of Greenland in front of the US Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Jan. 17, 2026.
(Cliu Zhichao/Xinhua via ZUMA Press
During the protests, a bipartisan congressional delegation, seeking to show solidarity with Denmark and Greenland, was in the Danish capital to meet with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and other Danish and Greenlandic leaders.
“It makes a big difference that members of Congress come here to listen,” Kristime Due, who was at the protest in Copenhagen, told NBC News.
FILE – Former President Donald Trump tosses automatic hats into the crowd during the final round of the Bedminster Invitational LIV Golf tournament in Bedminster, NJ, Sunday, August 13, 2023.
AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File
Foreign affairs spokesman Flemming Møller Mortensen said on Friday that the people of Denmark and Greenland are afraid of an increase in this and Trump’s appearance that he is willing to go beyond diplomacy.
“We feel shocked,” Mortensen said. “Especially people living in Greenland, old but also young and children,” said Mortensen.
– With files from Global News’ Uday Rana and The Associated Press
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
