Amid ongoing intervention in Venezuela — culminating in a strike on Caracas and the capture of President Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 2 — the United States has set its sights on a new target: Greenland.
President Donald Trump has spent much of the past year eyeing a possible annexation of Greenland, arguing its strategic Arctic position between the United States and Europe makes it vulnerable to invasions from Russia or China. After unsuccessful offers to purchase the territory in his first term, Trump doubled down on Jan. 9 with a threat that if he could not acquire Greenland “the easy way,” he would take it “the hard way.”
Greenland has been less than cooperative with Trump. According to Verian, 85% of residents do not wish to join the United States. The same is true of the government; in a recent joint statement, the ruling and opposition parties said: “We do not want to be Americans, we do not want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders.” A group of NATO countries, including Germany and the United Kingdom, are now holding discussions to increase their military presence to show Trump they are serious about protecting the region.
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen defended Greenland ahead of talks in Washington, saying it is “ready to defend [its] values.” However, a majority of Greenlanders still want complete independence; many have speculated Trump will attempt to utilize this rift to increase the likelihood of landing a deal with Greenland.
Trump’s true intentions behind his attempted acquisition are likely more than just “protection.” The United States already holds Pituffik Space Base, a key piece of the global missile warning network Space Delta 4 with around 150 stationed service members. The base also has the most northern deep-water port, which sits between two key Arctic trading routes: the Northwest Passage and the Transpolar Sea Route.
But what Greenland also has are natural resources — and lots of them. Rare earth elements (REEs) are held in deposits beneath ice, with large global appeal. These REEs are used in everything from electric vehicles to wind turbines. In addition, Greenland holds an estimated 31 million barrels of oil through hydrocarbons, which nears the total known amount of the United States’ crude oil reserves.
Could it really be a coincidence that Trump’s new target is a vast, largely defenseless territory with an abundance of valuable resources? Despite telling reporters that the United States needs Greenland “for national security, not for minerals,” neither Greenland itself nor any other nation agrees that American annexation of the territory is the proper course of action. In fact, the very decision that is supposed to increase national security may threaten it, as members of NATO are open to retaliation in the event that the United States follows through with a military invasion: something Trump has said is “in the cards.”
If Trump really cares about national security, his top priority should be easing tensions and acting in accordance with the wishes of the people of Greenland. Although there are certainly valid concerns over growing foreign influence in the region, these should be resolved with open discussion rather than a betrayal of global partnerships. The resources Greenland possesses are far less important than preserving the delicate trust between Western countries and territories in these increasingly divisive times.
