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Behind Trump’s controversial attempt to acquire Greenland
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Behind Trump’s controversial attempt to acquire Greenland

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President Donald Trump is once again suggesting that the United States should control Greenland — a widely criticized pursuit that one administration official reportedly says is “not going away.”
Trump’s interest in the autonomous Danish territory has been longstanding. He proposed buying it in 2019, during his first term his rhetoric increases again early 2025 when he started his second.
The US president wants to acquire Greenland to strengthen national security and “deter our adversaries in the Arctic”, the White House said, and has the use of military force is not excluded to do that.

Greenland’s government will take part in a meeting next week with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Danish officials following renewed US claims on the Arctic island, the foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has said a military takeover of Greenland would mean the end of the war. the NATO military alliance.

But a senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity to Reuters to discuss internal deliberations, said Trump’s push to acquire Greenland during his remaining three years in office “is not going away.”

Why does Trump want Greenland?

Greenland is an autonomous region of Denmark, not a country. Its approximately 56,000 inhabitants are full citizens of Denmark and, by extension, of the European Union.
Although controlled by Denmark, Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, is over 3,500 km from Copenhagen and lies between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of North America.

The island’s strategic location between Europe and North America makes it a crucial location for the US ballistic missile defense system. The mineral wealth also ties in with Washington’s ambition to reduce dependence on Chinese exports.

Greenland is not an independent member of NATO, but falls under Denmark’s membership of the Western alliance. Source: SBS news

Trump has argued that Greenland is vital to the US military and that Denmark has not done enough to protect the country. This is despite Denmark pledging 42 billion Danish crowns ($9.73 billion) last year to boost its military presence in the Arctic in an effort to fend off US criticism of Greenland’s defense capabilities.

“Greenland is littered with Russian and Chinese ships everywhere,” Trump said this week.
“We need Greenland from a national security point of view, and Denmark will not be able to do that.”
But Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen has rejected this claim.
“We do not share this view that Greenland is being plastered with Chinese investments… nor that Chinese warships are sailing back and forth past Greenland,” he said, adding that the US was welcome to invest more on the island.
The leaders of France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and Denmark said in a joint statement that Greenland “belongs to its people” and that it is for Denmark and Greenland to decide on the territory.

The Greenland government said on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT) it had requested an urgent meeting with Rubio to discuss the situation, along with Rasmussen, who said the talks should “clarify certain misunderstandings”.

What could Trump do now?

Frederiksen said this week that Trump “must be taken seriously” as she urged the US to “stop its threats.”
“If the US chooses to militarily attack another NATO country, everything stops, including NATO and with it the security that has been provided since the end of World War II,” Frederiksen said on Monday.
The NATO countries, made up of North American and European states, have the responsibility to defend a fellow member under attack.
Not everyone believes Trump would use military force to take Greenland, even though the White House has not ruled out such a move.
When asked about the Europeans’ joint statement on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT), US special envoy to Greenland Jeff Landry told US broadcaster CNBC: “Security should be a major concern for the United States”.
He said Trump offered economic opportunities to Greenland, but he did not think the president would take them by force.

“I think the president supports an independent Greenland with economic ties and trade opportunities for the United States,” Landry said, adding that the U.S. had more to offer than Europe.

The US official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said options included the US purchasing Greenland outright at an undisclosed price or forming a Compact of Free Association (COFA) with the territory.
A COFA agreement gives citizens of the partner country the right to live, work and study in the US without a visa, while the US provides economic and defense support to the country.
“Diplomacy is always the president’s first option in anything, and deal-making. He loves deals. So if a good deal can be made to acquire Greenland, that would certainly be his first instinct,” the official said.

The White House said in a statement to Reuters: “The President and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, deploying the U.S. military is always an option available to the commander in chief.”

Concerns about NATO, Russia and China

Jamie Shea, a former NATO official and now a professor of strategy and security at the University of Exeter in Britain, said Trump’s attempt to control Greenland could threaten the NATO alliance.
A US military takeover of Greenland would bring NATO allies into conflict, “erode” the alliance and make it “far less coherent and effective.”
“It would certainly create probably the biggest NATO crisis in history,” he told ABC Radio National on Wednesday morning.
“It would certainly push the Europeans much more quickly down the path that they are ready for, which is to try to spend more on their own defense, invest more in their own defense capabilities and weapons and try to reduce their dependence on the United States.”

Nordic foreign ministers – from Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark – said in a joint statement this week that they had increased their investments in Arctic security and offered to do more in consultation with the US and other NATO allies.

Shea said Trump’s concerns about Russian or Chinese influence in Greenland are unfounded.
“Greenland is part of NATO’s integrated defense system. The Europeans send forces there from time to time. The US already has a military base in Greenland.
“The idea that NATO and Europe are somehow neglecting the defense of Greenland, and that the United States should therefore intervene, honestly seems a bit exaggerated to me.”
— With additional reporting by Reuters news agency.

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