Trump and Greenland

U.S. President Trump this week said the United States needs to control Greenland to ensure international security. Trump made the comments while signing executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on the first day of his second term as president. Trump has expressed interest in making Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, a part of the U.S. since his reelection in November. He has not ruled out using military or economic power to persuade Denmark to hand it over.

Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede, who has stepped up a push for independence, has repeatedly said the island is not for sale and that it is up to its people to decide their future. The United States should acquire Greenland for “international security,” Trump reiterated, alluding to threats from Russia and China. “Greenland is necessary not for us, it’s necessary for international security,” he added. “You have Russian boats all over the place, you have China’s boats all over the place, warships, and they [Denmark] can’t maintain it.”

Trump has repeatedly said that the U.S. should take control of Greenland, calling an American acquisition of the vast Arctic island an absolute necessity and refusing to rule out using military force. His comments triggered crisis meetings in Copenhagen and a sharp rebuke from Danish and Greenlandic leaders, who said the island is not up for grabs. As global powers seek to expand their reach and footprint in the Arctic, mineral-rich Greenland, which hosts a U.S. military base, is coveted for its security and trade importance.

Trump has floated buying the island for years. Trump wrote on Truth Social last month the U.S. should take control of Greenland for purposes of National security and Freedom. He also proposed the idea in 2019. The Danish territory is home to the U.S. military’s Pituffik Space Base, and has become increasingly important on a geopolitical scale as melting ice in the Arctic Circle has opened new North Atlantic shipping lanes, drawing interest from U.S. rivals Russia and China. Arctic shipping increased 37% over the past decade, citing the Arctic Council, and the Northwest Passage, a shipping lane that connects the Atlantic and Pacific, passes by Greenland. The island is also part of the strategically important Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom gap, a chokepoint that Russian ships must transit to travel from the Arctic Ocean to the Atlantic. However, as NATO members, the U.S. and Denmark are already closely aligned.

Greenland is thought to be home to a wealth of untapped mineral resources, including coal, zinc, copper, iron ore, diamonds and oil, though only small portions of the island have been explored, in part due to its harsh conditions as it’s predominantly covered by ice and glaciers.

Greenland is part of Denmark. The country’s links to the island, home to fewer than 60,000 people, most of whom are Inuit, stretch back centuries. Norse settlers arrived in the territory over a millennium ago before eventually disappearing, and Denmark began colonizing the island in the 1700s. Greenland now has representatives in the Danish parliament, and its local government has gained more autonomy to handle internal affairs in recent decades, though Denmark still controls its foreign relations. In recent years, a push for full independence has grown more prominent.  

Greenland became self-governed in 2009, and a change to its ownership or legal status would require an amendment to the Danish constitution. Leaders in Greenland and Denmark have rebuffed Trump’s suggestions. Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte Egede said last month: “Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom.” This is an interesting comment and seems to allude towards independence from Denmark. Danish King Frederik also changed the royal coat of arms earlier this month to more prominently feature a polar bear, representing Greenland, and a ram, representing the Faroe Islands, leading to some speculation the move was a message to Trump, though Greenland and Denmark have experienced heightened tensions in recent years as Greenland’s government has called for independence. The Danish royal household did not address suggestions that the changes were made in response to Trump, but said in a statement the three crowns symbolizing the union of Denmark, Norway and Sweden were replaced by the ram and polar bear because the crowns were no longer relevant. Leaders also strongly dismissed the idea of selling Greenland to the U.S..

Actually, the idea to acquire Iceland is not new. Former President Harry Truman offered Denmark $100 million in gold in 1946 to buy Greenland amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and Soviet Union. Greenland sat between the two countries and was viewed as a potential battleground. It still is and the importance of Greenland will accelerate as global climate changes is heating up the area, melting the ice and opening up more trade channels and routes, driving Artic economic growth and enabling mineral exploration. Should Greenland become independent from Denmark, it can decide its own direction, and from both geopolitical and economic reasons, closer ties to the U.S. would make sense. Trump is ahead of the curve, but eventually, a closer Greenland – U.S. collaboration makes sense. China, and in particular Russia, should pay close attention as the Artic battle has suddenly gotten more serious.