{"id":19642,"date":"2025-01-09T15:43:43","date_gmt":"2025-01-09T15:43:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/business\/finance\/why-donald-trump-wants-greenland\/"},"modified":"2025-01-09T15:43:43","modified_gmt":"2025-01-09T15:43:43","slug":"why-donald-trump-wants-greenland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=19642","title":{"rendered":"Why Donald Trump wants Greenland"},"content":{"rendered":"


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US president-elect Donald Trump has refused to rule out military force to take Greenland. But America\u2019s military presence there has long dwarfed the handful of ships, dog sled patrols and single surveillance plane operated by the Arctic island\u2019s security guarantor, Denmark.<\/p>\n

Pituffik Space Base, located in the far north of Greenland since the end of the second world war, is home to 200 US military personnel<\/a> and 450 other forces and contractors from allies, part of Washington\u2019s missile early warning system as well as offering space surveillance and satellite command.<\/p>\n

The northernmost US base \u2014 only about 1,500km from the North Pole \u2014 is the most potent symbol of how vital Greenland<\/a> is to American security. But its geostrategic importance is only likely to increase as climate change reshapes the Arctic, opening new trading routes close to North America and putting Greenland at the heart of the growing polar tussle between the US, China, and Russia.<\/p>\n

Mikkel Runge Olesen, senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, said: \u201cFor the US, the problem is Chinese and Russian interest in the Arctic. The US has started to see the Arctic as a region for geopolitical competition. It\u2019s very important for the US to keep the other great powers out of Greenland.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Trump first expressed interest in buying Greenland in 2019, he framed it as like \u201ca large real estate deal\u201d and emphasised the economic aspects of prising it away from Denmark. This time, his focus has changed. \u201cWe need Greenland for national security purposes,\u201d he said on Tuesday, while mentioning the need to deter Russian and Chinese ships.<\/p>\n

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The world\u2019s largest non-continental island may have only 57,000 inhabitants but it has an outsized role in security matters. It sits at the start of both the north-west and north-east passages through the Arctic, which are likely to open up more to commercial shipping through melting, and is close to crucial routes for Russian and other submarines.<\/p>\n

Considered part of the North American landmass, Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark that has a capital that is closer to Washington DC than Copenhagen.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreenland is intimately connected with our security for a lot of reasons and has been visibly since World War II,\u201d John Bolton, the former national security adviser to Trump when he first floated the idea of buying Greenland, told<\/a> The Free Press recently.<\/p>\n

Bolton added: \u201cWe know from repeated efforts by the Chinese to extend their influence, they want to become an Arctic power\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009So given Greenland\u2019s geographic proximity to the US\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009it\u2019s obviously a strategic interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Denmark recently said it would invest up to $2bn on new ships, drones, dog sled teams and would bulk up its Arctic Command on Greenland<\/span> \u00a9 Chris Szagola\/AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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The Pituffik Space Base in Greenland is part of the US\u2019s missile early warning system as well as offering space surveillance and satellite command<\/span> \u00a9 Google Earth<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The question is whether Trump\u2019s aggressive stance \u2014 potentially threatening military action against a Nato ally \u2014 helps or hinders US attempts to boost its security in Greenland.<\/p>\n

The tone of Denmark\u2019s response has been remarkably emollient, even if it has insisted Greenland is not for sale<\/a>. Lars L\u00f8kke Rasmussen, Denmark\u2019s foreign minister, on Wednesday said he was open to discuss with the US \u201chow we can possibly co-operate even more closely than we already do to ensure that the American ambitions [in the Arctic] are fulfilled\u201d.<\/p>\n

Denmark, whose own troop presence on Greenland is limited to an Arctic Command of just 75 people, has tried to demonstrate to the US that it is willing to upgrade its security presence on the island.<\/p>\n

It unveiled a $250mn increase in surveillance capabilities in Greenland and the Faroe Islands, another Danish autonomous territory, in 2021. And on Christmas Eve last year, just after Trump first expressed again his desire to control Greenland, Denmark\u2019s defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen said the Nordic country would invest up to $2bn on new ships, drones, dog sled teams, would build up its Arctic Command, and extend an airport runway to take F-35 aircraft on the island.<\/p>\n

Still, the challenges involved in defending the vast island were underscored in 2023 when a cruise ship ran aground<\/a> on the east coast of Greenland and it took four days for the first rescue vessel from the Danish military to reach it.<\/p>\n

Olesen of the DIIS said: \u201cIt\u2019s a very dicey situation for Denmark\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009But Denmark has been extremely accommodating to the US in Greenland. So it\u2019s puzzling that the US would need to do this because they already have free rein.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A Trump-branded plane carrying Donald Trump Jr lands in Nuuk, Greenland on Tuesday<\/span> \u00a9 Emil Stach\/Ritzau Scanpix\/Reuters<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Experts and Greenlandic officials say there have been discussions about building up the US military presence on the Arctic island, possibly even through a second base. Several years ago a current Greenlandic minister said they would be \u201chappy to see more\u201d US defence forces on the island, describing them as \u201creassuring\u201d. <\/p>\n

The push for Greenland to achieve independence from Denmark \u2014 likely to feature strongly in elections this April but still a decent way off because of economic challenges \u2014 would only increase the need for an outside security guarantor to help defend the island as well as the need for foreign investors<\/a>. <\/p>\n