The Danish government summoned the American ambassador to express its displeasure after a report that the Trump administration was escalating its spying on Greenland.

       The Danish foreign ministry said that Jennifer Hall Godfrey, the acting U.S. ambassador to Denmark, had been called for a meeting after the Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration had ordered U.S. intelligence agencies to step up their surveillance on Greenland, an overseas territory of Denmark. A representative from Greenland’s government was also at the meeting.

       Lars Lokke Rasmussen, the Danish foreign minister, said the purpose was to make “absolutely clear” that Denmark was unhappy, and he emphasized that any efforts to “drive wedges into the unity of the kingdom” would not be tolerated. He declined to discuss the substance of the conversation at the meeting.

       President Trump has talked about acquiring Greenland since his first term in office. In a recent interview with NBC News, Mr. Trump reiterated that the United States “needs” Greenland for national security purposes — and refused to rule out the use of military force to obtain it.

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       “I’m not saying I’m going to do it, but I don’t rule out anything,” he said. He promised that Greenland’s 56,000 residents would be “taken care of and cherished.”

       Greenlanders, however, are not buying it. A recent opinion poll showed that the vast majority did not want to join the United States. A visit in March by Vice President JD Vance and his wife seemed to backfire and turned even more Greenlanders off.

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