NUUK, Greenland — Greenland’s pro-business opposition Demokraatit party, which favors a slow approach to independence from Denmark, won on Tuesday’s parliamentary election that was dominated by US President Donald Trump’s pledge to take control of the island.

Demokraatit secured 29.9% of the votes with all ballots counted, up from 9.1% in 2021, ahead of the opposition Naleraq party, which favors rapid independence, at 24.5%.

Since taking office in January, Donald Trump has vowed to make Greenland — a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark — part of the United States, saying it is vital to US security interests, an idea rejected by most Greenlanders.

The vast island, with a population of just 57,000, has been caught up in a geopolitical race for dominance in the Arctic, where melting ice caps are making its resources more accessible and opening new shipping routes. Both Russia and China have intensified military activity in the region.

“People want change … We want more business to finance our welfare,” said Jens-Frederik Nielsen, Demokraatit’s leader and a former minister of industry and minerals.

“We don’t want independence tomorrow, we want a good foundation,” Mr. Nielsen told reporters in Nuuk.

He will now hold talks with other parties to try and form a governing coalition.

The ruling Inuit Ataqatigiit party and its partner Siumut, which also seek a slow path towards independence, won a combined 36% of votes, down from 66.1% in 2021.

“We respect the election outcome,” Prime Minister Mute Egede of the Inuit Ataqatigiit said in a Facebook post, adding that he would listen to any proposals in upcoming coalition talks.

Greenland is a former Danish colony and has been a territory since 1953. It gained some autonomy in 1979 when its first parliament was formed, but Copenhagen still controls foreign affairs, defense and monetary policy and provides just under $1 billion a year to the economy.

In 2009, it won the right to declare full independence through a referendum, even though it has not done so out of concern living standards would drop without Denmark’s economic support.

“I strongly believe that we will very soon start to live a life more based on who we are, based on our culture, based on our own language, and start to make regulations based on us, not based on Denmark,” said Qupanuk Olsen, candidate for the main pro-independence party Naleraq.

Inge Olsvig Brandt, a candidate for the ruling Inuit Ataqatigiit party, said:

“We don’t need the independence right now. We have too many things to work on. I think we have to work with ourselves, our history, and we are going to have a lot of healing work with us before we can take the next step.”

Voting had been extended by half an hour at some of the 72 polling stations across the Arctic island, where some 40,500 people were eligible to cast their ballot, although the final turnout was not immediately available.

INUIT PRIDE
Mr. Trump’s vocal interest has shaken up the status quo and coupled with the growing pride of the Indigenous people in their Inuit culture, put independence front and center in the election.

In the final debate on Greenland’s state broadcaster KNR late on Monday, leaders of the five parties currently in parliament unanimously said they did not trust Mr. Trump.

“He is trying to influence us. I can understand if citizens feel insecure,” said Erik Jensen, leader of government coalition partner Siumut.

A January poll suggested a majority of Greenland’s inhabitants support independence, but are divided on timing.

Early on, the election campaign focused on the anger and frustration aimed at historical wrongdoings by Denmark, according to Julie Rademacher, a consultant and former adviser to Greenland’s government.

“But I think the fear of the US imperialist approach has lately become bigger than the anger towards Denmark,” said Ms. Rademacher.

Reuters spoke to more than a dozen Greenlanders in Nuuk, all of whom said they favored independence, although many expressed concern that a swift transition could damage the economy and eliminate Nordic welfare services like universal healthcare and free schooling.

“We don’t want to be part of the US for obvious reasons; healthcare and Trump,” said Tuuta Lynge-Larsen, a bank employee and Nuuk resident, adding that this election was especially important. “We don’t like the attention, to put it short.”

The island holds substantial natural resources, including critical minerals such as rare earths used in high-tech industries, ranging from electric vehicles to missile systems.

However, Greenland has been slow to extract them due to environmental concerns, severe weather, and China’s near-total control of the sector, which has made it difficult for companies elsewhere to make a profit or secure buyers.

INVESTMENT PLEDGES
Mr. Trump initially declined to rule out military force to take control of the territory, alarming many Greenlanders, although he later softened his stance, stating he would respect the will of the local people and was “ready to invest billions of dollars” if they joined the US.

Mr. Egede has stressed the island is not for sale and advocated for a broad coalition government to resist external pressure. In an interview aired on Monday by Danish broadcaster DR, he dismissed Mr. Trump’s offer as disrespectful, expressing willingness to cooperate with other countries instead.

Denmark’s prime minister has said Greenland is not for sale, but made it clear that it is up to the local people to decide their future.

All six main political parties support independence but differ on how and when it could be achieved.

The pro-independence Naleraq party, the leading opposition force, had gained momentum ahead of the election, bolstered by US interest and fresh accusations of Denmark’s historic exploitation of Greenland’s mineral wealth.

The party believes the US attention strengthens Greenland’s position in secession talks with Denmark and aims to bring a deal with Copenhagen to a vote before the next election in four years. — Reuters

WASHINGTON — The US Department of Education said on Tuesday it would lay off nearly half its staff, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as government agencies scrambled to meet President Donald Trump’s deadline to submit plans for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations are part of the department’s “final mission,” it said in a press release, alluding to Mr. Trump’s vow to eliminate the department, which oversees $1.6 trillion in college loans, enforces civil rights laws in schools and provides federal funding for needy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the firings would lead to the department’s dismantling, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said “yes,” adding that doing so “was the president’s mandate.” The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 workers, down from 4,133 when Mr. Trump took office in January.

Before announcing the layoffs, the agency ordered offices in the Washington area closed to staff from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education department spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions about the nature of the security issues prompting the closures.

Similar closures served as a precursor to shuttering the headquarters of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the humanitarian aid agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans against unscrupulous lenders.

The layoffs are the latest step in Mr. Trump’s sweeping effort to downsize the government, led by the world’s richest person Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). DOGE has cut more than 100,000 jobs across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign aid and canceled thousands of programs and contracts, despite dozens of lawsuits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force approach has frustrated several White House officials and Republican lawmakers, some of whom have confronted angry constituents at town halls. Mr. Trump told department heads last week that they, not Mr. Musk, have the final say on staffing, his first notable public move to restrain the Tesla CEO.

All US government agencies have been ordered to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday, setting up the next phase of Mr. Trump’s cost-cutting campaign. Several agencies have offered employees payments to retire early to fulfill Mr. Trump’s demand.

Affected Education department employees will be placed on administrative leave starting on March 21, the department said.

The union representing more than 2,800 department workers said it would fight the “draconian cuts.”

“What is clear from the past weeks of mass firings, chaos, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this regime has no respect for the thousands of workers who have dedicated their careers to serve their fellow Americans,” said Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252.

Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk have argued that the government is wasteful and bloated. DOGE claims it has saved $105 billion in cuts, but it has only publicly documented a fraction of those savings, and its accounting has been plagued by errors.

The federal government reported an estimated $162 billion in improper payments in fiscal year 2024, according to a US Government Accountability Office (GAO) annual report released on Tuesday. The vast majority were overpayments, the report said. Total federal outlays topped $6.75 trillion in that fiscal year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The total improper payments figure was down sharply from 2023’s $236 billion, the GAO said.

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS
Other agencies have offered lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to workers who agree to leave their jobs. Among these are the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Social Security Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including its Food and Drug Administration.

The buyout offers, combined with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction way to help meet the Thursday deadline, human resources specialists at several federal agencies told Reuters.

The Trump administration has been grappling with myriad lawsuits after it fired thousands of probationary workers in a first wave of mass layoffs and essentially dismantled entire departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration (GSA), which manages the government’s property portfolio, is also seeking approval to offer the buyout payments to workers, according to an e-mail sent by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA could not be reached for comment outside of US business hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already offered bonuses of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance experts said the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal challenges. It also requires workers who have accepted the offer to repay the money if they take another government job within five years.

“If your strategy is to get as many people out the door voluntarily, that reduces the risk of court orders and opposition to you in the long run,” said Don Moynihan, a public policy professor at the University of Michigan.

Only a couple of agencies have telegraphed how many employees they plan to cut in the second phase of layoffs. These include the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is aiming to cut more than 80,000 workers, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is planning to cut 1,029 staff.

Despite the looming deadline, no agency has yet submitted its job-cutting plan to OPM, the government’s human resources department that is collating the data, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. OPM declined to comment.

OPM itself has offered lump-sum payments to some 650 of its employees, according to another person with knowledge of the matter. Employees were given until March 12 to respond.

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent an e-mail to all 19,000 employees announcing a Friday, March 14, deadline for a buyout program. Those who accept would have to retire by April 19.

Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its prior offer by adding two months of full pay in addition to the bonus, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS could not be reached for comment outside of normal US business hours. — Reuters