Lhe future American president-elect, Donald Trump, still has his eyes fixed on Greenland, a strategic island between Russia and the United States, the object of all covetousness. In 2019, he outright proposed buying this autonomous Danish territory in the Arctic, sparking indignation and categorical rejection from the Danish and Greenlandic governments, like the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, who described this idea as “ absurd “.
Donald Trump returned to the charge on Sunday December 22, 2024 by announcing, on his social network Truth Social, his choice of the new American ambassador to Denmark, and adding: “For reasons of national security and freedom in the world, the States The United States believes that ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity. »
A sentence which caused an outcry in Copenhagen and Nuuk, the capital of the Inuit. “Greenland is not for sale and never will be,” replied the head of local government, Mute Bourup Egede, nevertheless willing to “cooperate with [ses] neighbors” of North America.
When the Americans occupied Greenland
Experts are surprised by this announcement. “Surprised by such a thunderous statement”, Jon Rahbek-Clemmensen, researcher at the Institute for Arctic Strategic Studies at the Defense Academy in Copenhagen, believes that “the United States does not need to buy Greenland since they already control this territory and have access to everything they consider vital to their interests,” he explains to Point.
The Americans had “already occupied Greenland in 1941, during the Second World War, in agreement with the Danish ambassador in Washington, Henrik Kauffmann, who acted alone, in defiance of the cooperation government in Copenhagen,” recalls he. By building several bases, they wanted to “prevent Germany from using the island as a weather station and as a springboard for an invasion of North America.”
In 1951, the United States entered into a defense agreement with Denmark. All their bases have been closed, except that of Thule, in the northwest of the island, now called Pituffik Space Base. Modernized in the early 2000s, it is included in the American anti-missile shield system.
The interests of Russia, China and the United States converge in the Arctic
Washington's interest in this strategic land of ice populated by 56,000 souls has “increased in recent years in the face of the desires of Russia and China which have strengthened their position in the Arctic”, underlines Jon Rahbek -Clemmensen.
While the Russians have “consolidated their military presence in the region” by building bases, airstrips and radar systems and acquiring new submarines and aircraft, China's activities have been “economic by investing in mining research in Greenland, rich in minerals, particularly rare earths,” he notes. “The United States was concerned,” he adds, “by the capabilities of Russian bases in the Arctic which now make it possible to attack the Thule base, which has once again become the cornerstone of American anti-missile defense. »
Washington also feared that “China could use financial investments to bring Greenland closer to China and build infrastructure there that could be used by the Chinese military in the future,” the analyst continues.
Strengthening its ties with Greenland, the United States reopened its consulate in Nuuk in 2019 and concluded a cooperation agreement in June of the same year. American companies can thus prospect in the province of Gardar, in the southwest of Greenland, an area which contains large quantities of minerals “very useful for the Americans”.
“So what is Trump trying to do with this signal when the United States has everything it wants to protect its interests, other than to encourage the Danish government, their ally, to strengthen its defense capabilities in Greenland? » asks Jon Rahbek-Clemmensen.
Coincidentally, Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen presented on Tuesday a plan worth billions of crowns to strengthen Greenland's defense. It calls for the construction of two new inspection ships, two long-range drones and more personnel at Arctic Command. “For many years we have not invested enough in the Arctic. This is why we are now considering a stronger presence,” he told the daily Jyllands-Posten. “Trump’s announcement has no influence on our plan that has been in place since 2023,” he added on the TV2 channel.
Greenland 'protects the United States from Russian missiles'
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Martin Breum, Arctic specialist and author of several books, told radio station P1 Morgen: “Trump's words should not be taken lightly. We must never forget that Greenland is of great military, strategic and geopolitical importance to the United States. Greenland is like a kind of hard hat at the top of the American continent and protects the United States from Russian missiles” thanks to their Thule alert base.
According to him, “Donald Trump believes that the United States must provide greater control over Greenland – and he does not think that the ties that already exist between the United States, Denmark and Greenland are sufficient.”
