Why Greenland? Trump eyes control of world's biggest island

Spectacular icescapes, high mountains, tundra and unique wildlife: Greenland offers countless motifs for impressive photos and videos.

That's the reason Donald Trump, Jr., gave for his trip to Greenland on Tuesday. He said he was visiting to gather material for a podcast.

"As someone who has travelled to some fascinating places across the globe as an outdoorsman, I'm excited to stop into Greenland for a little bit of fun this week," Trump Jr. told the US broadcaster Fox News before his visit.

Yet, the self-proclaimed nature lover Trump Jr.'s Instagram profile contains many political posts supporting his father, and the apparent vacation was overshadowed by the US president-elect's claims Greenland should become part of the United States.

Greenland's future is at a crossroads of Danish control and independence, but few think it will become a US stateImage: Email Stach/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP/Getty Images

Trump's renewed interest in Greenland

Since winning the US presidential election in November, the elder Donald Trump has called for US control of several places outside the country.

He would like to see the Panama Canal back under US sovereignty, and, after threatening its northern neighbor Canada with punitive tariffs, Trump even brought up a merger of the two North American giants as an alternative, which Canadian officials have strenuously rejected.

Asked Tuesday whether he could promise not to use military or economic coercion to gain control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, Trump said: "No, I can't assure you on either of those two. But I can say this, we need them for economic security."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday said EU leaders were taken aback by Trump's failure to reject military action against Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.

"In my discussions with our European partners, there has been a notable incomprehension when it comes to current statements from the USA regarding the principle of the inviolability of borders," Scholz said, without referring to Trump by name.

The European Union aimed to avoid confrontation on the issue. A spokesperson for the European Commission said it was "looking forward" to working with the incoming US administration.

"We are talking about fairly wild hypothetical stuff about an administration that hasn't come in yet," a Commission spokesman said of Trump's remarks. 

Trump wanted to buy Greenland in 2019

It's Trump's claims to Greenland that have been among his most repeated. In 2019, during his first term of office, the former real estate entrepreneur and reality TV star expressed an interest in buying the Danish territory.

When Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen rebuffed him, Trump canceled a state visit to Denmark.

Just before his son's departure, Trump posted a video on his social media platform Truth Social, showing a man in a MAGA peaked cap calling on Trump to buy Greenland and free it from Danish "colonial rule."

The US president-elect has not yet stated any specific reasons for his wish beyond vague references to national and economic security.

Denmark's foreign minister, on Wednesday, said Greenland could become independent but that it would not become a US state. 

"We fully recognise that Greenland has its own ambitions. If they materialise, Greenland will become independent, though hardly with an ambition to become a federal state in the United States," Danish foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said.

So what's the fuss about Greenland?

In economic and geopolitical terms, control over Greenland would increase US influence in the resource-rich Arctic region, where Russia and China are increasingly asserting their claims in times of melting ice caps.

The United States, with its state of Alaska, is an Arctic state and has operated an air force base in northwest Greenland since 1951.

Greenland's capital, Nuuk, is closer to New York than Copenhagen, and the island boasts deposits of minerals, oil and natural gas. A 2023 survey showed that 25 of 34 minerals the European Commission labeled "critical raw materials" were present in Greenland. 

In an interview with the private German television broadcaster NTV, Thomas Jäger, a professor of politics from Cologne, identified another potential ulterior motive beyond natural resources.

"It's easy to imagine that Trump wants to follow in the tradition of presidents who greatly expanded their territory, like in the 19th century when the United States expanded westwards and then bought Alaska," he said, adding that "this would be something that would define him as a truly great president."

Boost for Greenland's independence

"I don't want to be a pawn in Trump's wild dreams of expanding his empire and including our country in it," Aaja Chemnitz, a member of the Danish parliament from Greenland, wrote on Facebook.

Also Greenland's domestic politics are currently engaged in a debate about becoming independent from Denmark.

Greenland's Prime Minister Mute Egede stated in his New Year's address, that work has already begun on creating the framework for Greenland as an independent state.

Inhabited by the Inuit, the island was colonized by Denmark and Norway in the 18th century and eventually fell under the administration of the Danish crown.

After the Second World War, Greenland was officially decolonized, but at the same time women were forced to use contraception and children were deported to the Danish mainland against their parents' will.

The atrocities are only slowly being dealt with and are strengthening the desire of many Greenlanders to finally break away from Denmark.

Greenland has been heavily affected by climate changeImage: Olivier Morin/AFP

Denmark unlikely to give up Greenland

It is unclear, however, if an independent Greenland could survive economically.

Each year, Copenhagen transfers around €550 million ($565 million) to the island, roughly a third of its total budget.

Furthermore, Denmark would hardly want to renounce Greenland, not least because of its mineral resources and geostrategic importance.

Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen published an investment list for the military infrastructure in Greenland shortly after Trump's offer.

The Danish royal family granted Greenland more space on its newly designed coat of arms.

Instead of cramming the Greenlandic polar bear into a corner together with the Faroe Islands' ram, both heraldic animals now have their own field.

"Denmark, Greenland and other Commonwealth nations belong together," Denmark's King Frederik affirmed in his New Year's Day speech.

Whether the Greenlanders agree with this is likely to remain an issue in the upcoming election campaign.

In April, when a new parliament is elected in the autonomous region, the proponents of independence are hoping for a boost. 

However, as of now, one thing is safe to say: Whether independence, US annexation or remaining part of Denmark, potentially with higher subsidies, the geopolitical revaluation of the melting Arctic plays into Greenland's hands.

This article was originally published in German.