US President Donald Trump wants to own Greenland. He has repeatedly said that the United States must control the region. Strategic location and rich mineral resources The island, which is a semi-autonomous region, is NATO ally Denmark.
Officials from Denmark, Greenland and the United States met in Washington on Thursday and will meet again next week to discuss White House pushes againA range of options are being considered, including the use of force to acquire the island.
Trump said on Friday he would “do something in Greenland whether they like it or not.”
If it can’t be done “the easy way, we’ll get it done the hard way,” he said, without elaborating on what that might mean. In an interview on Thursday, he told The New York Times that he wanted to own Greenland because “ownership gives you things and elements that you just don’t get by just signing a document.”
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that a US takeover of Greenland would mark a The end of NATOGreenlanders say they don’t want to be part of the U.S.
This article explores some of the ways in which the United States controls Greenland and the potential challenges.
Military action could change global relations
Trump and his officials have said they want to take control of Greenland to bolster U.S. security and explore commercial and mining deals. But Imran Bayoumi, deputy director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, said the sudden focus on Greenland was also the result of decades of neglect by several U.S. presidents about Washington’s role in the Arctic.
He said the current focus was partly due to “our realization that we need to increase our presence in the Arctic, but we don’t have the right strategy or vision to do that yet”.
If the United States takes control of Greenland by force Putting NATO into crisispossibly existential.
Although Greenland is the world’s largest island, it has a population of approximately 57,000 people and does not have its own military. Defense is provided by Denmark, whose military strength pales in comparison to that of the United States
It is unclear how the remaining NATO members would react if the United States decided to forcefully take control of the island, or whether they would provide assistance to Denmark.
“If the United States chooses to launch a military attack on another NATO country, everything will stop,” Frederiksen said.
Trump has said he needs control of the island to keep the United States safe, citing threats from Russian and Chinese ships in the region, but Lin Mortensgaard, an expert on Arctic international politics at the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), said “that’s not true.”
Mortensgaard said that while there may be Russian submarines – as there are throughout the Arctic – there are no surface ships. She said that China has scientific research ships in the central Arctic Ocean, and although Chinese and Russian troops have conducted joint military exercises in the Arctic, the exercises took place close to Alaska.
The Atlantic Council’s Bayoumi said he doubted Trump would use force to control Greenland because it is unpopular with Democratic and Republican lawmakers and could “fundamentally alter” U.S. relationships with allies around the world.
Mortensgaard said the United States already has access to Greenland under a 1951 defense agreement and that Denmark and Greenland would be “more than happy” to accommodate an enhanced U.S. military presence.
Therefore, there is no point in “blowing up the NATO alliance” for what Trump has already done, said DIIS Greenland expert Ulrik Pram Gad.
Bilateral agreements could help efforts
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a select group of U.S. lawmakers this week that the Republican administration intends to eventually buy Greenland rather than use military force. Danish and Greenlandic officials have previously said the island would not be sold.
It is unclear how much it would cost to purchase the island, or whether the United States would purchase it from Denmark or Greenland.
Bayoumi said Washington could also strengthen its military presence in Greenland “through cooperation and diplomacy” rather than taking it over.
Gadde said one option could be for the United States to have veto power over security decisions made by the Greenlandic government, as it does on the Pacific islands.
Palau, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands have signed a Compact of Free Association (COFA) with the United States
That would give Washington the authority to operate military bases and make decisions about island security in exchange for U.S. security guarantees and about $7 billion in annual economic aid, according to the Congressional Research Service.
It’s unclear how much of an improvement this would make to Washington’s current security strategy. The United States already operates the remote Pitufik space base in northwestern Greenland and can send as many troops as it can under existing agreements.
Influence operations expected to fail
Greenlandic politician Aja Chemnitz told The Associated Press that Greenlanders want more rights, including independence, but do not want to be part of the United States
Guade said influence operations to persuade Greenlanders to join the United States may fail. He said this was because the island’s communities were small and the language was “difficult to communicate”.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lok Rasmussen Summons top U.S. officials Complaints were made in Denmark in August about “foreign actors” trying to influence the country’s future. Danish media reported that at least three people with ties to Trump conducted covert influence operations in Greenland.
Gadde said even if the United States succeeds in taking control of Greenland, it could come with huge costs. This is because Greenlanders currently hold Danish citizenship and have access to the Danish welfare system, including free healthcare and education.
To match that, “Trump would have to build a welfare state for Greenlanders that he doesn’t want for his own citizens,” Gadde said.
Differences unlikely to be resolved
Rasmussen said last year that the U.S. military presence in Greenland has been reduced since 1945 from thousands of troops spread across 17 bases and installations to 200 troops at the remote Pitufik Space Base in the northwest of the island. The base supports U.S. and NATO missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance operations.
Vice President Vance told fox News emerged on Thursday that Denmark had neglected its missile defense obligations in Greenland, but Mortensgaard said there was “little point in criticizing Denmark” because the main reason the United States operates the Pitufik base in the north of the island is to provide early detection of missiles.
Gadde said the best outcome for Denmark would be to renew the defense agreement, allow the United States to station troops on the island, and have Trump sign his “gold-plated signature.”
But he said that was unlikely because Greenland would be “very convenient” for the US president.
When Trump wants to change the news agenda — including distracting people domestic political issues “He just had to say the word ‘Greenland’ and it would start all over again,” Gad said.