By P.K.Balachandran/The Citizen

Colombo, January 16- US President Donald Trump has said that he will take over Greenland whether the Greenlanders and Denmark  (which has sovereignty over the island), like it or not.

Trump is adamant because he believes that US control over Greenland is necessary to prevent Russia and China from dominating the Artic Sea and pose a threat to North America and Western Europe.

It is a fact that Russia is building up its military in the Artic Sea and China’s research vessels are collecting data in that sea. The icy Artic Sea will become more navigable as the ice melts because of climate change. And greater navigability will be an incentive to Russia and China to try and secure a strong presence in the new sea lane.

Here are three reasons why Trump is fixated with Greenland: (1) it is rich in strategic minerals like rare earths (2) it’s location is strategic (3) it could be taken over or domination by Russia and China, a development not in the interest of the US and the West.   

Mineral Wealth

Greenland has deposits of diamonds, graphite, lithium, copper, nickel and gallium. It also has oil and rare earth minerals, such as neodymium and dysprosium, of which China and Russia are the top global producers, according to the Royal Society of Chemistry. Rare earth minerals can be used in smartphones, powerful magnets and defence technologies. According to a 2023 survey, 25 of 34 minerals deemed “critical raw materials” by the European Commission were found in Greenland.  

Strategic Location

Greenland is at the intersection of North America, Europe, and the Arctic, making it critical for military movement across the northern Atlantic. As geopolitical competition with Russia and China intensifies, the US is focussing on preventing them from gaining a foothold in Greenland and the Artic region.

Greenland is strategically situated along the GIUK Gap (Greenland, Iceland and the United Kingdom Gap). It is a maritime choke point where NATO monitors Russian naval movements in the North Atlantic.

Trump complains that the sea around Greenland is “covered” with Russian and Chinese ships. He believes that the current Danish-US defence agreement is not suited for meeting a Russian military threat. However, European officials say that while Moscow and Beijing have increased their activity in the region, most of that is elsewhere in the Arctic, with no current spike in activity near Greenland. But Trump thinks ahead of others and acts to pre-empt future events.

Bid to Buy Greenland

When the Cold War began after World War II, the then US President Harry Truman, formally offered to purchase Greenland from Denmark, citing its importance for security against the USSR.  Denmark rejected the offer but agreed to allow US military access. In 1951–52 the US established the Pituffik Space Base, a radar station.  

During his first term (2017–21), Donald Trump revived the proposal to purchase Greenland. Like before, Danish and Greenlandic leaders rejected it. However, the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine brought Arctic security to the forefront and Greenland again became a matter of concern for the US and Trump stepped up his demand for Greenland.

In late 2025 he appointed Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry as a special envoy to Greenland who even said that he intended to “make Greenland a part of the US.” Alarmed, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned that a US attack on Greenland would mean the end of NATO. As an alternative  she proposed greater military facilities to the US in Greenland.

Trump, however, wanted outright ownership. He told “The New York Times” – “Ownership gives you things and elements that you can’t get from just signing a document.”

Russian and Chinese Activities   

As started earlier, the Northern Sea Route (NSR), a maritime route in the Arctic Ocean, is becoming increasingly easier to navigate due to melting ice. The NSR can cut shipping time between continents significantly.

Russia is hoping to use the NSR to trade more with Asia than Europe, due to Western sanctions. Last year, the number of oil shipments from Russia to China via the NSR rose by a 25%.

Russia and China have been working together to develop Arctic shipping routes because Russia seeks to deliver more oil and gas to China amid Western sanctions, and China seeks an alternative shipping route to reduce its dependence on the Strait of Malacca.

According to the Director of Ukraine’s National Security Institute., Bohdan Ustymenko, maritime strategy has long played a significant role in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s thinking. Putin views the Northern Sea Route as part of Russia’s national transport infrastructure and has sought to control access to other nations.

Russian control is dangerous for Western nations because the Northern Sea Route covers a vast area and some of the areas currently claimed by Moscow are situated well beyond the territorial waters of the Russian Federation, Ustymenko points out

In August 2024, Putin ordered the establishment of a Russian Maritime Collegium headed by his close advisor Nikolai Patrushev, who formerly led Russia’s FSB security service and the country’s National Security Council. According to Ustymenko, Russia is engaging in a wide range of “hostile naval actions,” including surveillance activities off the coast of Britain and other NATO countries.

Arctic waters provide a military advantage to Russia and China because of the North Pole’s proximity to several European nations. Russia’s control over the oil and gas resources of the Arctic region could dramatically increase its revenues and the windfall would be used by the Kremlin to finance its wars, Ustymenko warns.

Chinese Research Vessels

Daniel Michaels and Sune Engel Rasmussen, write in “The Wall Street Journal” that Chinese research submarines have travelled thousands of feet beneath the Arctic ice, “a technical feat with chilling military and commercial implications for America and its allies.”

According to the US Department of Homeland Security, Chinese military and research vessels have been operating around Alaska’s Arctic waters in “unprecedented numbers.”” US Air Force Gen. Alexus “Grynkewich has said that Chinese vessels on research missions often serve a military purpose. China has already declared itself a “near-Arctic power,” he points out.   

The US expects China to send armed submarines to the North Pole within a few years. China already has military-grade surface vessels in the Arctic region while expanding its fleet of ice-breaking ships. Last year, Chinese and Russian military planes flew patrols near Alaska for the first time, with Chinese long-range bombers operating from a Russian air base, Grynkewich says.

The US and its allies are training more Arctic troops in response to new dangers. They have beefed up submarine hunting patrols out of Iceland and other locations.

In 2015, China updated its national-security law to include defending national interests in the polar region and seeking unfettered access to new sea lanes and resources, Ryan Martinson, an associate professor at the US Naval War College’s China Maritime Studies Institute, has pointed out.

On his part, US President Trump struck a shipbuilding deal with Finland to expand the US icebreaker fleet and has pressured Denmark into expanding defences on and around Greenland.

Subsea Warfare

In the Arctic, the US and NATO worry most about China’s “subsea warfare” capabilities. Submarine navigation relies on detailed knowledge of ocean-floor topography and undersea conditions. China is therefore cataloguing the world’s oceans to build computer models to guide submarines and help them evade detection.

China sells to Russia, electronics and components for military equipment and ships civilian products restricted by international sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine war. And Russia is sharing advanced technologies in space, stealth aircraft and undersea warfare. Russia has established a reputation in submarine warfare.  

Denmark’s Bid to Stem US Military Takeover

In a bid to stem Trump’s bid to takeover Greenland, the Foreign Ministers of Denmark and Greenland met US Vice President J.D.Vance in the White House earlier this week. But it was not productive.  

“We still have a fundamental disagreement. We didn’t manage to change the American position,” said Lars Lokke Rasmussen, the Danish Foreign Minister standing alongside his Greenlandic counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, in Washington.

Several European leaders have offered their support to Denmark. They issued a joint statement Tuesday that said “the inviolability of borders is a universal principle” and that “Greenland belongs to its people. It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.” Canada supported the statement.

If push comes to shove, European countries could review their support for US military bases. In theory, European nations could use trade or taxation policies to apply pressure to the US, but, in practice, such a move would mean the disintegration of NATO.   

However, Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen urged his fellow islanders to stay calm and united. “We are not in a situation where we think that there might be a takeover of the country overnight and that is why we are insisting that we want good cooperation. The situation is not such that the United States can simply conquer Greenland.”

END