Weekly Briefing — Icy Relations: Georgia’s Ties at the Top of the World

Georgia & the Nordic Neighborhood

Checking in for a diplomatic luncheon at the airport recently, I ran into Iceland’s honorary consul for Georgia. It’s not a country you hear much about these days, unless an eruption disrupts transatlantic air travel. 

But Iceland was all over the international headlines this week — inadvertently so, as President Trump referred to the volcanic island multiple times in his fiery Davos speech. He meant, of course, Greenland, the much larger and even more sparsely populated island — or “piece of ice,” as the president also repeatedly called it — at the center of a territorial expansion plan that threatens to fracture NATO. 

With this political firestorm engulfing America’s relationship with Europe, and an ice storm approaching this weekend in Georgia (stay safe), I thought it might be a good time to take a deeper look at how connected we are in the South to these decidedly northern climes. 

Mr. Trump may have pulled back from the threat of using force and tariffs to take Greenland, a semiautonomous part of the Danish realm, but sighs of relief aren’t signs of repair or reconciliation, and the president hasn’t given up on his broader aspiration to acquire Greenland. Any pullback on investment and trade from the five countries of the Nordic neighborhood could ripple across to key sectors in Georgia. That’s especially true as these countries — especially new NATO entrants Sweden and Finland — increasingly their defense investments as the way to Trump’s heart on trade. Read: Nordic Nations Play Up Security Ties While Navigating Tough U.S. Investment Climate

Small Populations, Key Job Creators

🇩🇰 Denmark may have a smaller population than metro Atlanta, but the EU nation punches above its weight when it comes to security, energy and investment. Investments from about 60 Danish companies (and their related trade activity) underpin 4,200 jobs in Georgia, some of them coming from defense contractors like Terma, or innovators like Kamstrup, whose recent Forsyth County expansion was headlined by Gov. Brian Kemp and Denmark’s ambassador. Denmark is at the center of the current icy relationship, as it has counted Greenland as part of its territory for more than 300 years. Mr. Trump believes that Denmark is ill-equipped to defend an island the size of three Texases; Denmark, which has contributed troops to all recent U.S. wars, counters that his threats undermine NATO, the very alliance that makes this a moot point, while obscuring the fact that the U.S. has the right, based on prior agreements, to open military bases in Greenland. See the Danish embassy’s video highlighting 200 years of ties with Georgia

• Trade highlight: $110 million in annual Georgia exports
• Diplomat: Honorary Consul Christopher Smith
• Chamber: Danish American Chamber of Commerce – Georgia
• Read up: Danish Investment, Trade Supports 4,200-Plus Jobs in Georgia

🇸🇪 Sweden is Georgia’s largest Nordic investor, with nearly 50 companies creating 10,454 jobs, according to the Swedish embassy in Washington. That includes major employers like Thomas Concrete, Hitachi Energy, Skanksa, Elekta, Ericsson, Sinch, Securitas, but also smaller firms like Dise, which just set up an office at The Battery. In addition to heavy industry, Sweden is adept at technology, including areas like fintech, where Atlanta also excels. Companies like Spotify, Klarna and more recent AI unicorn Lovable, call Sweden home. The country’s population is 10.5 million, slightly smaller than Georgia’s. 

• Trade highlight: $209 million in annual Georgia exports
• Diplomat: Thomas Rosseland, Honorary Consul 
• Chamber: Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce Georgia
• Read up: Report: Swedish Business Ties Support Nearly 12,000 Georgia Jobs | Data

🇳🇴 Norway was set to become a major investor in Georgia when battery maker Freyr promised a $2.7 billion plant in Newnan, though it never materialized as the winds shifted in the EV space. As it stands, only a few Norwegian companies have operations here. Norsk Hydro, whose CEO sat on a panel with Gov. Kemp during his appearance in Davos in 2024, is a major employer in Gainesville. 

• Diplomat: Thomas Rosseland, Honorary Consul 

🇫🇮 Finland is a key player in forestry, defense and smart manufacturing, that latter sector providing a jolt of energy for Georgia in 2023, when a Finnish firm, ADMARES, said it would spend $750 billion on a factory in Waycross, Ga. As of the start of 2026, construction hadn’t yet begun. Still more than 30 Finnish companies operate here, including Kone, which provides cranes for the Savannah port, and both the honorary consulate and binational chamber for Finland have been recently reinvigorated.

• Diplomat: Kari Lindberg, Honorary Consul
• Chamber: Finnish-American Chamber of Commerce Southeast

All of these seemingly far-flung destinations have become closer thanks to a nonstop flight launched last year by SAS Scandinavian Airlines, from Atlanta to Copenhagen, with onward service to other capitals like Oslo, Stockholm and even Nuuk, the Greenlandic city unsettled by delegations of U.S. officials and European troops.

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Editor’s note: Due to length, we’re skipping the events feature this week.

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