Why does Trump want Greenland to be part of the US?

Why the United States wants to control Greenland? President Trump did it he made it clear that he thinks the US needs control of the island to ensure the security of America and its NATO allies, a point those allies – and Greenland – strongly disagree with.

That’s why Mr. Trump insists that the US needs to control the independent Danish territory, and why NATO allies and Greenland say that the US can achieve its goals without taking it.

Greenland strategic location

• Greenland is located between the US, Russia and Europe.
• Climate change means new shipping lanes will open up across the Arctic.
• Greenland is the location of the US military’s northernmost base

Greenland is 836,000 square kilometers, most of it within the Arctic Circle and covered by the Greenland Ice Sheet. It is home to only about 60,000 people.

Greenland is an independent territory of the Kingdom of Denmark with its own elected government.

Its location between the US, Russia and Europe makes it strategic for both economic and defense purposes – especially as melting sea ice has opened up new shipping routes across the Arctic.

Greenland is also home to the US’s northernmost military base – the Pituffik Space Base, which was established during World War II.

National security

• President Trump said that Chinese and Russian activities around Greenland are a security threat to the United States.
• The threat of Chinese and Russian ships around Greenland is disputed.
• Danish diplomats said the US could send more troops or equipment to Greenland on request.

Mr. Trump has also said that the US needs Greenland for national security purposes.

“It’s very strategic at the moment,” he told reporters on Jan. 4, which says “Greenland is covered by Russian and Chinese ships everywhere. … We need Greenland from a national security point of view, and Denmark will not be able to do it.”

Mikkel Olesen, a Danish foreign policy and communications researcher, told CBS News earlier this month that there are no Russian and Chinese ships in the entire Arctic, but there are Russian aircraft, and historically there has been a lack of situational awareness in the region.

“This is something that the US used to do on its own. I mean, during the Cold War, the US had a line of radar stations across Greenland and the US chose to close those radar stations because the Cold War ended,” said Olesen. “Now, that doesn’t mean that Denmark as an alliance is not obliged to try to help the US in handling that problem, at all. I’m just saying that the situation that existed before Donald Trump was that the US was very happy to be able to have a free hand in Greenland to handle those problems.”

The Danish government has made it clear that the US is welcome to increase its military presence in Greenland, and that protecting the island from any possible enemies should be the joint responsibility of the NATO alliance.

“Put in warning systems, missiles, troops, etc. Just by asking, you can,” Danish lawmaker Lars Christian Brask, vice chairman of the Danish Parliament’s Foreign Policy Committee, told CBS News earlier this month. “It’s not you [the U.S.] running the country, but you have options, it is possible, to be soldiers, equipment … equipment Greenland. You just have to ask.”

Members of the US Congress openly questioned the claim of Mr. Trump on the security threat of Russia or China in Greenland, including the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia. who said “The only countries, frankly, that benefit the most from this chaos are Russia and China.”

Former American Ambassador to Denmark Rufus Gifford also denied Mr.

When asked earlier this month what exactly the United States will gain in terms of national security by taking control of Greenland, given everything the US is already able to do, White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt said: “More control in the Arctic region and making sure that China and Russia and our adversaries cannot continue to be aggressive in this very important and strategic region. And there will be many other benefits and his national team in terms of security.”

Control a new, important transport route

• Melting sea ice in Greenland has created more opportunity to use northern sea passages.
• The Northwest Passage, which approaches Greenland, is currently inactive year-round.

Melting sea ice around Greenland has created more opportunity to use northern sea passages enabling the hijackers to save time and millions of dollars in fuel by taking shorter routes between Europe and Asia that only took longer in the warmer months.

There are a few main routes across the Arctic that work better. The Northern Sea Route, which follows Russia’s long northern border, does not bring ships too close to Greenland, and Russia and China agreed to jointly develop the route and have been using it extensively in recent years.

A Russian merchant ship, accompanied by an icebreaker, began traversing the Northern Sea Route in winter in February 2021.

Another route, called the Northwest Passage, is approaching the waters off the coast of Greenland and is likely to be of particular concern to the Trump administration.

Before those two routes became operational in winter, the only way to transport goods from Russian ports or energy producing areas in East Asia was to go south. But those routes are about 3,000 miles long, and thus very expensive.

Greenland’s natural resources

• Greenland has reserves of oil, natural gas and highly sought after mineral resources.
• It can be very expensive to test and develop such resources.
• Greenland has long said it is open for business if American companies are interested in exploring.

Those mineral resources, which include rare earth elements, “have been underexplored and developed,” Jose W. Fernandez, the US Department of State’s undersecretary for economic growth, energy and environment, said at the Minerals Security Partnership event in Greenland in November 2024.

Greenland may have deposits of up to 31 different minerals, including lithium and graphite, according to a 2023 report assessing the island’s resources. Both minerals are needed to produce batteries for electric vehicles and a wide range of other technologies.

Currently, lithium production is dominated by Australia, Chile and China, with China producing about 65% of the world’s graphite, the report said.

Greenland also has the potential to supply significant amounts of rare earth minerals such as neodymium, which is used to make magnets used in electric motors, the 2023 report said.

China produces about 70% of the world’s exotics, and their demand continues to grow with technological advances and the rapid spread of consumer devices.

There are, however, significant obstacles to mining in Greenland, including environmental and cost issues.

The US “can explore, of course if you live according to environmental laws, etc., all the rare earths and minerals you want in Greenland on a commercial basis. There will be no reservations about that,” Danish lawyer Brask told CBS News earlier this month.

Olesen, a foreign policy researcher in Denmark, said these minerals are still very expensive to extract, so it doesn’t make economic sense for private companies to pursue them.

“The Greenlandic government’s position has long been that Greenland is open for business, and with a few exceptions, the main reason why not much has happened has been that there has never been a business case for American companies,” Olesen said, adding, “there has been nothing to stop American companies from coming in for a long time.”

Many Greenlanders do not want to be Americans

• Many Greenlanders say they do not want to be part of the United States.
• Greenland leaders say they want good relations and cooperation.

The Prime Minister of Greenland, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, says that his country wants a good relationship with the US.

A a survey conducted last year showed that 85% of Greenlanders do not want to be part of the United States.

“He’s not going to take it that way,” said Daniel Rosing, an apprentice electrician who said he was proud to be a Greenlander. he told CBS News before last year’s visit to the island by Vice President JD Vance and his wife.

As Mr. Trump doubled down on his vows to take control of Greenland in some way, and threatened America’s eight allies the most. prices if they refuse to comply with his request, thousands of the island’s residents marched on its capital Nuuk to reject his speech.

Nielsen said on Facebook that tax threats will not change the opinion of the people of Greenland.

“We will not be pressured,” he said.