As Greenland’s parliamentary elections this month include a referendum on independence from Denmark for its 56,000 Inuit population, President Donald Trump has proposed an offer that mutually benefits both them and Denmark.
Whereas a 2009 Greenland Self-Government Act gave Greenlanders the right to declare this independence, economic reliance on a $500 million annual subsidy grant from Denmark currently complicates this goal.
Trump recently told “the incredible people of Greenland” that “if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America.”
This, after having proposed to purchase Greenland twice, originally drawing ridicule during his prior 2016-2019 term of office.
He was not the first to do make this proposal.
President Andrew Johnson considered the idea in 1867 when the U.S. bought Alaska, and the Truman administration offered Denmark $100 million for the island at the end of World War II.
Although neither offer came to fruition, under a 1951 defense treaty the U.S. got a strategic Pituffik air base (previously called Thule) equipped with a missile warning system as our northernmost outpost in northwest Greenland midway between Moscow and New York.
Trump’s Dec. 29th statement that U.S. ownership of Greenland “is an absolute necessity” was initially received cooly by Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
Weeks later, during a trip there by Donald Trump Jr. flippantly characterized as “a little bit of fun,” P.M. Frederiksen told a national TV station that Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte Egede "has been very, very clear — that there is a lot of support among the people of Greenland that Greenland is not for sale and will not be in the future either."
In his New Year address, Egede called for the “shackles of the colonial era” to be removed.
Despite frigid opposition to a monetary purchase, Greenland and Danish governments both appear inclined to warmly welcome the U.S. as a regional protection guardian and economic partner.
Frederiksen told reporters ahead of a recent meeting of European Union leaders in Brussels, “I totally agree with the Americans that the High North, the Arctic region is becoming more and more important when we are talking about defense and security and deterrence. And it is possible to find a way to ensure stronger footprints in Greenland.”
Greenland’s position as strategic maritime region adjacent to the Northwest Passage shipping lane is important as both a domestic trade corridor and Western NATO defense route for security protection from Russia.
The former Danish colony, now an autonomous territory of Denmark, occupies a unique geopolitical position between the U.S. and Europe, its capital city Nuuk being closer to New York than to Denmark’s capital Copenhagen.
Despite Copenhagen’s recent pledge to boost security spending there by 2 billion euros, Denmark — a NATO member — is recognized to lack adequate financial and military resources to guarantee the security of Greenland amid realistically perceived rising Russia threats.
Greenland’s strategic value provides untapped natural resource deposits including rare earth metals used in domestic and military electronic equipment, uranium, and oil and gas.
China shares Western interest in acquiring access to Greenland’s mineral wealth. Beijing released a 2018 white paper detailing an Arctic strategy that included an intent to build a “Polar Silk Road,” in parallel with its Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure investments in other regions.
Despite floating a proposal to purchase Greenland, master deal-doer President Trump undoubtedly realizes that the U.S. doesn’t need to own Greenland in order to advance mutual economic and defense interests.
One possibility known in international law provides for a joint Denmark- U.S. “condominium” partnership.
Having once spent a year as an air traffic controller on a small remote Greenland military base, this is not the sort of climate I would personally pick for a vacation condo.
However, his would be one of different sort whereby the U.S. and Denmark would exercise equal say over Greenland defense and security policies. They would share responsibilities to protect autonomy of Greenlander governance, their economic and safety interests, and their natural and cultural environment.
As Greenland’s legislature summed up its position in the title of its 2024-2033 foreign defense and security strategy report, Greenland in the World – Nothing About Us Without Us.
Danish foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen recently echoed acceptance of this reality, stating, “We fully recognize that Greenland has its own ambitions. If they materialize, Greenland will become independent, though hardly with an ambition to become a federal state in the United States.”
I seriously doubt that President Trump ever had any Greenland statehood goal in mind.
It is ultimately up to Greenlanders to decide the future of Greenland while also respecting the interests of NATO partner Denmark whose people fought and died alongside Americans during World War II.
Their country and ours, together with other EU allies, share a long tradition of cooperative Arctic governance and must stand together against dangerous and disruptive foreign agendas.
And yes, cooperative assurance of Greenland’s safe and independent future is of vital importance to our own.
Larry Bell is an endowed professor of space architecture at the University of Houston where he founded the Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture and the graduate space architecture program. His latest of 12 books is "Architectures Beyond Boxes and Boundaries: My Life By Design" (2022). Read Larry Bell's Reports — More Here.