Trump Still Desires a Greenland New Deal
The American president wants to bolster U.S. national security, obtain greater access to valuable resources, and oust old Europe from the Western Hemisphere.
Donald Trump was reelected president for many reasons, chief among them to clean up the colossal messes created by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on the economy and the border. Yet foreign policy was often overlooked as a facet of Trump’s vision, and he has focused on it more than many might have predicted. Biden’s retreat from Afghanistan caused cascading chaos worldwide, but America’s standing in the world has been declining, and Trump is on a mission to change that.
So, Greenland is back in the news.
It began with a conversation Trump had with reporters after his stunningly successful mission to extradite Venezuela’s thug/criminal/illegitimate dictator Nicolás Maduro. Riding high on his triumph, Trump once again brought up his desire to acquire Greenland from Denmark. The latter’s control, after all, violates the Monroe Doctrine, which opposes European influence and control in the Western Hemisphere.
“I will say this about Greenland: We need Greenland from a national security situation,” the president said. “It’s so strategic. Right now, Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place.” He dismissed Denmark’s security efforts as having merely “added one more dog sled.”
Countering Chinese and Russian influence is also a motivator in Venezuela. The Golden Dome could be a key aspect of the Greenland play, but Trump is also right to be interested in the massive and sparsely populated island for its resources — namely rare-earth minerals.
Trump has been talking up the idea since at least 2019, but it has come up far more frequently ahead of and during his second term.
Denmark and Greenland have steadfastly rebutted any notion of parting with this territory in the North Atlantic. “Our country is not an object of superpower rhetoric,” Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen wrote in reply to Trump. “Threats, pressure, and talk of annexation do not belong anywhere between friends.”
Mette Frederiksen, the prime minister of Denmark, issued a similar joint statement with other European leaders. They called the U.S. “an essential partner” and “NATO ally,” but insisted, “Greenland belongs to its people. It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”
Most of the kerfuffle, however, is arguably Leftmedia-generated. As is their habit, reporters tried to get Trump to agree to a red line. They wanted to know that military action is off the table, but as usual, Team Trump wouldn’t take the bait and be boxed in by ruling anything out.
“There’s no need to even think or talk about this in the context that you’re asking, of a military operation,” argued White House adviser Stephen Miller. “Nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland.”
“The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal,” noted White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, “and of course, utilizing the U.S. military is always an option at the commander-in-chief’s disposal.”
Yet Secretary of State Marco Rubio emphasized buying the island when he spoke to lawmakers Monday, downplaying the notion of using the military. Lawmakers from both parties called on the U.S. to “respect the sovereignty” of Denmark and Greenland, noting that Greenland has welcomed a friendly U.S. military presence on the island since World War II. Pituffik Space Base, formerly Thule Air Base, has been there since the early 1950s.
Naturally, military action would have serious consequences within NATO. “The world’s strongest defensive alliance … would collapse if one NATO country chose to attack another,” warned Frederiksen.
If I were a betting man, I’d wager that the stuff about the military is twofold: Don’t, as I mentioned, take the Leftmedia bait, and ratchet up the negotiations for a peaceful sale. That’s usually how Trump’s Art of the Deal works. In this case, it means convincing the other players that Trump wants Greenland more than Denmark does, and that it’s worth making a deal. On top of that, getting the rest of NATO to pull its own weight has been another long-term project for Trump. Threatening a nation with whom we have defense treaty obligations is arguably unwise and could backfire, but this is chess, not checkers.
As evidence that negotiation is the real aim, Denmark and Greenland requested a meeting with Rubio to discuss the situation.
Much more broadly, President Trump views American foreign policy as in need of an overhaul. He’s tired of “losing” all over the place, and he wants to “win.” We’ll see just how far he’s willing to push for a “win” in Greenland.
