Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Friday visited Greenland’s capital for talks with the territory’s leader after a turbulent week that saw US President Donald Trump back down from threats to seize the Arctic island and agree to negotiations.Denmark has rejected Trump’s claims that the US must take control of Greenland because China and Russia are trying to gain a foothold in the region, with Copenhagen vowing to beef up its military presence on the island.Frederiksen’s visit comes after two fraught weeks for Denmark and Greenland, culminating in Trump claiming he had reached an agreement with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Wednesday that saw the US leader withdraw his threats of military action and tariffs against European allies.”I’m here to show the strong support Danes have for Greenlanders,” Frederiksen told reporters.”It’s a very difficult time, everyone can see that,” she said, adding they were working on preparing a “diplomatic response”.Trump and Rutte agreed on what the US leader called a “framework”, the details of which have not been disclosed.Trump said only that the United States “gets everything we wanted” in the plan, which would be in force “forever”.A source familiar with the talks told AFP the US and Denmark would renegotiate a 1951 defence pact on Greenland.That agreement, updated in 2004, already allows Washington to ramp up troop deployments provided it informs Denmark and Greenland in advance.- Security talks with US -Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen stressed Friday there had been no detailed plan hammered out between Trump and Rutte, rather there was a “framework for a future agreement”.He said “instead of those drastic ideas about needing to own Greenland… (Trump) now wishes to negotiate a solution”.Frederiksen held talks with Rutte in Brussels on Friday. They agreed “to enhance deterrence and defence in the Arctic,” Rutte wrote on X after their meeting.Frederiksen meanwhile was greeted with a hug from Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen at Nuuk airport, then rushed into a car without speaking to journalists.Lokke said negotiations on the framework agreement would start soon, focussing on “security, security, and security”.”We will get those meetings started fairly quickly. We will not communicate when those meetings are, because what is needed now is to take the drama out of this.”- ‘Red line’ -Denmark and Greenland have stressed that sovereignty and territorial integrity would be a “red line” in the talks.Nielsen said on Thursday he was not aware of the contents of the Trump-Rutte talks but insisted no deal could be made without involving Nuuk.”Nobody else than Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark have the mandate to make deals or agreements,” he told reporters.Frederiksen has repeatedly said the same thing.A Danish colony for three centuries, Greenland, which has around 57,000 inhabitants, gradually gained autonomy in the second half of the 20th century and obtained self-rule in 2009.But Denmark’s assimilation policies — including de facto bans on the Inuit language and forced sterilisations — have left Greenlanders bitter and angry.While an overwhelming majority of the island’s inhabitants support a decades-long drive for full independence, Trump’s threats over the past year have led to a warming of ties between Denmark and Greenland. “Greenlanders still have a lot of grievances concerning Denmark’s lack of ability to reconsider its colonial past,” Ulrik Pram Gad, a researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, told AFP.”But Trump’s pressure has prompted the wide majority of the (Greenlandic) political spectrum… to put the independence preparations — always a long-term project — aside for now.”

Global stocks were subdued and precious metals hit fresh highs Friday after a turbulent week that saw US President Donald Trump back down from threats to seize Greenland and hit European allies with fresh tariffs.Gold — a safe haven asset — pushed towards a record $5,000 an ounce despite “a calmer end to a chaotic week on the markets”, said Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell.”Gold nudged ahead… as investors were reluctant to let go of their safety blanket, just in case Donald Trump woke up with another controversial idea,” he added.And silver jumped almost three percent to reach record highs to within 25 cents of $100 as a weakening dollar saw precious metals firm.Sentiment has calmed over the past two days after the US president pulled back from his warning to hit several European nations with levies because of their opposition to Washington taking over the Danish autonomous territory.After European stocks hesitated — London, Paris and Frankfurt all dipped — Wall Street saw a turgid opening as the Dow was down 0.6 percent some 30 minutes into the session. The broader S&P 500 and tech heavy Nasdaq just edged into the red.Intel plunged 16 percent after lacklustre expectations on the chip-maker’s earnings.Asian markets closed higher, tracking a successive advance on Wall Street.- Powell under pressure -Trump’s latest salvo against allies revived trade war fears and uncertainty about US investment, putting downward pressure on the dollar this week.Analysts said there was no guarantee that Europe-US relations had improved durably.The US president’s willingness to threaten tariffs over any issue had rattled confidence on trading floors, weighing on the dollar and boosting safe-haven metals, analysts said.Investors were also preparing for next week’s Federal Reserve meeting following economic data broadly in line with forecasts and after US prosecutors took aim at boss Jerome Powell, which has raised fears over the bank’s independence.The bank is tipped to hold interest rates, having cut them in the previous three meetings.The meeting also comes as Trump considers candidates to replace Powell when his term comes to an end in May.The Bank of Japan left its key interest rate unchanged ahead of the country’s snap election next week, which could impact government spending plans. After sharp volatility in the wake of the announcement, the yen traded slightly higher. In company news, the share price of Japanese giant Nintendo closed up 4.5 percent as industry data showed its Switch 2 console led the US hardware market in unit and dollar sales in 2025.Czech weapons manufacturer CSG debuted on the Amsterdam stock market Friday, raising 3.8 billion euros ($4.5 billion) — the world’s biggest initial public offering in the defence sector.Next week’s US earnings calendar is packed with results from Apple, Microsoft, Boeing, Tesla, Meta and other corporate giants. – Key figures at around 1445 GMT -New York – Dow: DOWN 0.6 percent at 49,063.07 pointsNew York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.2 percent at 6,902.68New York – NASDAQ: DOWN 0.1 percent at 23,417.71London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 10,145.00Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.4 percent at 8,115.47Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.2 percent at 24,811.35Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.3 percent at 53,846.87 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.5 percent at 26,749.51 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.3 percent at 4,136.16 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1743 from $1.1751 on ThursdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3529 from $1.3500Dollar/yen: DOWN at 158.30 yen from 158.39 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 86.81 pence from 87.05 penceWest Texas Intermediate: UP 2.5 percent at $60.90 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 2.5 percent at $65.65 per barrel