Donald Trump's yearning for Greenland is nothing new, the US has always eyed the Arctic prize

Trump also said that the US strongly supported the island’s right to determine its own future.

PUBLISHED MAR 17, 2025

US concerns over Greenland are nothing new. Washington DC has maintained a security interest in Greenland since 1857.

Shubham Ghosh

Washington D.C.: President Donald Trump on March 13, 2025, reaffirmed his plan to annex Greenland during a media interaction with Mark Rutte, the general secretary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), triggering another meltdown.

When asked by a reporter about the possibility of the ‘annexation’ of Greenland, Trump said, “I think it will happen.” Pointing to Rutte, also the former prime minister of the Netherlands, Trump said [Rutte] could be “very instrumental” to his Greenland plans.

“You know, Mark, it is very important for international security because we have a lot of our favourite players cruising around the coast, and we have to be careful. We will be talking to you,” the president remarked.

NATO chief sidesteps the issue

Rutte said he did not want to involve the NATO in the US-Greenland issue but agreed on the geopolitical significance of the island of Greenland.

He said the Chinese and Russians were using the Northern polar route and seven Arctic nations located in the region were working on the matter under the US’s leadership to bolster their presence. At this, Trump said the US has ordered the building of 48 ice-breakers. Currently the US only has one to Russia's 40. The president also took a dig at Denmark, which has partial control of Greenland, saying it was far away and has little to ability to give protection.

Trump also noted the presence of the US military on the world's largest island, referring to the US Space Force’s Pituffik Space Base on Greenland’s northwest coast. He said Washington DC already had quite a few soldiers in Greenland and more personnel could be deployed there in near future.

A person who did not want to provide his name protests in front of the American Consulate about what he said is 'the threat of the possibility of the annexation of Greenland by America' on March 14, 2025 in Nuuk, Greenland.

Trump's Greenland fixation

Trump, who also proposed purchasing Greenland from Denmark during his first term (2017-21), told Rutte that the US’s control over the island was required for international security. “We have a lot of our favourite players cruising around the coast, and we have to be careful,” he said.

On March 4, the president mentioned the island in his joint address to the Congress saying the US needed it for national and international security and it was making efforts with every stakeholder to reach its goal. “One way or the other, we’re going to get it,” he said, welcoming the people of Greenland to the US.

“We will keep you safe. We will make you rich. And together, we will take Greenland to heights like you have never thought possible before,” he remarked, addressing the people of Greenland.

However, Trump also said that the US strongly supported the island’s right to determine its own future, which contrasted with his January speech in which he said he would not rule out military intervention or economic measures to take control of Greenland.

He also warned of imposing “very high” tariffs against Denmark if it tries to interfere. Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr visited Greenland weeks after the president made his claim on Greenland in January. Both the US and Denmark called the visit “personal”.

Why does the US want Greenland?

US concerns over Greenland are nothing new. Washington DC has maintained a security interest in Greenland for a long while.

In 1867, William Seward, the then US secretary of state who famously negotiated the purchase of Alaska from Russia, explored buying Greenland from Denmark but Copenhagen blocked it. In 1910, a three-way land exchange including the US acquiring Greenland and Denmark getting parts of the US-held Philippines was proposed.

During World War II, the US felt it was militarily necessary to acquire Greenland after Nazi Germany occupied Denmark. It set up weather and radio stations in Greenland. In 1946, the then US president Harry Truman's administration even offered Denmark $100 million in gold to purchase Greenland. In 1955, the American joint chiefs of staff recommended trying to acquire the Arctic island to establish military access but there was no official offer made.

Then came Trump’s first offer in 2019 but it was shot down by Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederikson. Trump cancelled his state visit to the Scandinavian nation as a consequence. The matter took a backseat in 2020 when Trump lost the presidential election. Washington DC’s focus shifted to strengthening NATO in the Arctic, especially in response to the geopolitical instability triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

But with Trump now back into the Oval Office, Greenland is back on the table. In February, Republican Congressman Earl “Buddy” Carter brought a bill to the House of Representatives that would authorize Trump to negotiate with the Danish government to buy or acquire Greenland. He even named it ‘Red, White, and Blueland’.

America’s interest in Greenland is in a way the continuation of its strategic explorations on the island which accelerated during the Cold War. US forces remained in Greenland after World War II and the Pituffik Space Base, formerly called Thula Air Base, has remained in operation ever since.

The base has about 650 personnel, including around 200 US Air Force and Space Force members. Civilian contractors from Canada, Denmark and Greenland are also present. It engages in missile warning, space surveillance, and satellite command and control.

US’s Greenland strategy during the Cold War

While Denmark initially wanted to take over US installations in Greenland, it abandoned these plans after joining NATO and Cold War conflicts saw it abandoning its plans and Greenland emerged as a key base in the US’s nuclear retaliation strategy.

There were also other US bases in Greenland. Of them, Camp Century is an eerie example. A military research base between 1959 and 1967, the base located in the far northwest of Greenland was meant to set up the groundwork for a network of nuclear launch sites that would survive if the US faced a first strike, declassified documents from 1996 showed.

That Greenland remains strategically important was evident in January when US Air Force F-35s and Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18s carried out combat air patrols after several Russian military jets were seen in operation in the Arctic. It was confirmed by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) in a news release even though it said that the Russian air activity was not a threat.

NORAD also said it sent two US F-16s from Alaska to Greenland, “exercising its standard agreement with the Kingdom of Denmark to forward posture NORAD presence in the Arctic”.

Trump’s plan not a joke: Rubio

While these air activities may look harmless, the Americans are not taking the Russia and China threat. Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview that the president’s proposal to buy Greenland and emphasis on military coercion was not a joke.

“This is not about acquiring land for the purpose of acquiring land. This is in our national interest and it needs to be solved,” he said. There is not just a new Cold War binary which is involved in the Greenland ‘tug-of-war’ but also high economic stakes.

Rubio said the Arctic was set to become a critical region in terms of shipping lanes and the US should be in a position to defend that. He also warned that China, a serious geopolitical rival that the US, may also seek to develop its presence in the region.

While Denmark has a military presence in Greenland under the Joint Arctic Command, which is headquartered in Nuuk, where it conducts surveillance and search and rescue operations, its limited and ageing military capacities and Europe’s alleged indifference towards the island are pushing the US more to take control of Greenland.

Why Russia, China are interested in the Arctic and Greenland?

Russia has heavilyy militarized the Arctic region in recent years. The Nagurskoye air base, its northernmost, hosts nuclear-capable strategic bombers, missile and surveillance systems and is located just over 2,200 kilometres from Greenland. While Russian nuclear submarines patrol the Arctic waters, a growing number of nuclear-powered ice-breakers also seek to enhance Moscow’s presence in the region.

Marc Jacobsen, an associate professor at the Royal Danish Defence College, acknowledged the significance of Greenland for the US and the West saying it sits on the shortest route to send Russian nuclear missiles towards the US. Russia and China have also held joint military drills in the Arctic.

While China eyes a foothold in Greenland for polar research and infrastructure besides natural resources, the latter seeks Chinese investments for local economic development. China is a major market for Greenland’s fisheries industry and has emerged as the second-most important destination for the island.

Greenland scrapped in 2013 a law which banned the mining of radioactive material and rare-earth elements to diversify its economy and this saw China making its presence stronger to mine resources in the Arctic landmass.