President Donald Trump has restated, on numerous occasions, and in no uncertain terms, his unswerving intention to add the island of Greenland to the list of America’s territorial possessions, whereby the US would become the second-largest country in the world. To achieve this objective, he is even prepared to take the “hard way” if the “easy way” fails to deliver. Military action has not been ruled out. Trump considers control over Greenland as essential to preserving America’s national security, in the face of perceived threats from Russia and China, and in keeping with a wider programme to consolidate American domination of the Western Hemisphere.
Greenland, currently an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, was first colonised by the Danes in 1721. Formal Danish links with Greenland thus predate American attainment of nationhood in 1776. Greenland was eventually incorporated into the Kingdom of Denmark in 1953, making its people citizens of Denmark, with representation in the Danish Parliament. Home Rule followed a referendum in 1979, with Denmark retaining control over defence, external affairs, and constitutional matters. Mineral resources are managed jointly by Denmark and Greenland. From June 2009, Greenland has been designated as a self-governing overseas administrative division of Denmark and guaranteed a higher percentage of oil and minerals revenue.
American interest in, and active involvement with, Greenland is far from new. Between 1941 and 1945, under the Monroe Doctrine, the US assumed protective custody of Greenland during the Nazi occupation of Denmark. Currently, America is the only country to operate a military base on the island, under the terms of the Greenland Defence Agreement, signed in Copenhagen on 27 April 1951 by the US and Denmark. Under the terms of the agreement, the US can “construct, install, maintain, and operate facilities and equipment, including meteorological and communications facilities and equipment, and to store supplies” to defend Greenland and the North Atlantic Treaty area. This Agreement is meant to “remain in effect for the duration of the North Atlantic Treaty.” Pituffik Space Base, 750 miles north of the Arctic Circle in the northwest coast of Greenland, is the sole remaining American base in Greenland, down from a peak of over 30 weather stations, military bases, and airfields during the Second World War. Originally known as Thule Air Base, it assumed its current name in 2023. The northernmost base of the United States military was constructed between July and September 1951. It hosts the 12th Space Warning Squadron, which operates the Upgraded Early Warning Radar (UEWR), providing tactical warning of potential nuclear ballistic missile attacks against the United States and Canada, and tracks space objects to help the US Joint Special Operations Command maintain space situational awareness. The site also has the world’s northernmost deep-water port.
President Trump is by no means the first American leader to have cast a covetous eye on Greenland. Back in 1868, Secretary of State William Seward attempted to purchase the island, as did President Harry Truman, secretly, in 1946, when he offered Denmark $100 million in gold in return for Greenland. In addition, in 1910, a three-way swap of territory whereby America would be granted possession of Greenland was considered, only to be abandoned.
Apart from its strategic location straddling the air and maritime approaches to North America, Greenland also has abundant reserves of oil, natural gas, graphite, diamonds, iron ore, gold, platinum, uranium, and rare-earth minerals. The exploitation of these natural resources has until now proved economically unviable and carries the risk of environmental degradation. The Greenlandic government controls all rights to the use of land and grants prospecting, exploration or exploitation licences, which can be granted to US mining companies without requiring American ownership of the relevant resources. Enabling infrastructure, refining capacity, and energy supply are, however, lacking, and only two mine sites have received an exploitation license for rare earth minerals. Rare earth mining has yet to take place, while all new oil and gas exploration was banned in 2021. The island is mostly uninhabited and inhospitable, with over 4/5ths of total land area covered by the thick Greenland Ice Sheet.
Under the circumstances, Trump can either coerce the Danish government to lease Greenland, purchase the island outright, pay Greenlandic citizens and encourage them to vote in a referendum for secession, or as a last resort embark upon a military invasion, which seems unlikely. An American economic partnership with a sovereign Denmark-Greenland in the pursuit of mutual self-interest seems the option most worthy of consideration.
The ways things are progressing, any possible annexation of Greenland cannot be ruled out for the moment. It must be remembered that America is itself the product of successive waves of territorial expansion, achieved by various means, military or otherwise. At its birth 250 years ago, the US comprised 13 states in the north-eastern corner of what is now the American mainland. Southward and westward expansion was achieved through the Treaty of Paris (1783), the Louisiana Purchase (1803), annexation of the Republic of Texas (1845), the Gadsden Purchase (1853), the Alaska Purchase (1867), and the annexation of the Republic of Hawaii (1898). A precedent has even been set for the acquisition of territory from Denmark with America’s purchase of the Danish Virgin Islands in 1917.
President Trump’s desire to take charge of Greenland is neither original nor unexpected, having already been declared in 2019 during his first term as President. However, there seems to be little support within Greenland for a possible American takeover, leading the five political parties in the Greenlandic parliament to issue a joint statement on 9 January 2026 rejecting any future American acquisition of Greenland. While the US may well have the capability to establish its authority over the island, any reputational damage, the splintering of an increasingly fragile NATO alliance, and the loss of political capital that will inevitably follow will almost certainly outweigh any potential benefits of such a move.
Ashis Banerjee