Why does Donald Trump want Greenland? Here's what to know
The war of words between U.S. President Donald Trump and the autonomous territory of Greenland continued into the new year, heated up by the recent American incursion into Venezuela to capture its president.
On Monday, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned that the long-standing NATO alliance would end if Trump ordered an attack on Greenland.
“If the U.S. chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops, including NATO and thus the security that has been established since the end of the Second World War,” she said.
Here’s what to know.
When did Trump first set his sights on Greenland?
Trump’s aspirations to obtain Greenland date back to his first presidency. In 2019, he offered (unsuccessfully) to buy the world’s largest island from Denmark. The Danish government responded by pledging to upgrade military spending in Greenland to the tune of 1.5 billion Danish crowns (roughly $320 million) for surveillance.
More recently, he has been more bellicose in his musings. In May, Trump said he could not “rule out” using military force to annex Greenland, even as he added he was not considering a military attack on Canada to force it to join the Union.
Last month, he reasserted that the U.S. needs Greenland for its national security, and named Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry as a special envoy who would “lead the charge.”
“They have a very small population, and … Denmark has spent no money,” Trump said last month of the island, which has a population of 57,000. “They have no military protection,” he added. “They say that Denmark was there 300 years ago or something, with a boat. Well, we were there with boats too, I’m sure. So we’ll have to work it all out.”
What do the Greenlanders and others say?
Greenland’s youngest-ever prime minister, Múte Bourup Egede, said before leaving office last year: “Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale.”
More recently, after the attack on Venezuela, Frederiksen said in a statement: “It is absolutely absurd to say that the United States should take control of Greenland.”
In addition, a poll a year ago by Axios found that 85 per cent of the islanders did not want to join the U.S.
European leaders have also sided with Denmark and Greenland in recent days, with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer saying of Frederiksen: “I stand with her, and she’s right about the future of Greenland.” Germany and France have also confirmed their support.
What does Greenland have that the U.S. wants?
In addition to its mineral wealth, the vast island — three times the size of Texas — occupies a strategic location in the North Atlantic between North America and Europe.
After the Second World War, the U.S. set up and continues to operate Pituffik Space Base, also known as Thule Air Base. A 1951 defence agreement also gives it the right to build and maintain military bases.
“If Russia were to send missiles towards the U.S., the shortest route for nuclear weapons would be via the North Pole and Greenland,” Marc Jacobsen, an associate professor at the Royal Danish Defence College, told the BBC last year. “That’s why the Pituffik Space Base is immensely important in defending the U.S.”
How would America actually take control of Greenland?
That’s not clear. An analysis by Bloomberg quotes adjunct Professor Rasmus Leander Nielsen of Greenland University, who told local media that Denmark can’t sell the island because its home-rule law of 2009 “clearly states that Greenlanders are their own people.”
The analysis suggests that, shy of military force, the best bet would be for America to wait for the territory to gain independence from Denmark and then approach it directly about annexation.
That is unlikely to happen quickly. There has long been discussion about breaking from Denmark, but in the island’s last election in March, a majority of voters chose parties that backed only a slow move to independence.
How likely is the idea of buying an entire chunk of territory?
There’s much precedent, albeit not recently. America purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire in 1867, and before that, it bought Louisiana from France in 1803.
In the last century, Denmark sold what were then called the Danish West Indies to the U.S., which renamed them the U.S. Virgin Islands. That was in 1917.
How much would it cost?
The U.S. International Trade Administration notes that the island’s GDP was about US$3.2 billion in 2021, with some 20 per cent of that coming in the form of an annual grant from Denmark that covers more than half the public budget.
The ITA also notes that “the Greenlandic government seeks to increase revenues by promoting economic diversification and greater development of the fisheries value chain, natural resources, tourism and clean energy.”
For comparison, Alaska cost just US$7.2 million in 1867, worth about US$150 million today. The Virgin Islands were purchased for US$25 million in 1917, or about US$600 million today.
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