Danish officials have repeatedly told President Donald Trump that Greenland is “not for sale.”
Trump doesn’t seem to care.
The president continues to promote his vision for taking over Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark, arguing the island is needed to bolster US security and its stocks of strategic resources.
During his joint address to Congress earlier this month, the president said the United States would take control of Greenland “one way or the other.” And recently, Trump declined to rule out military force.
Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, arrived in Greenland on Friday, embarking on a scaled-back trip that included a stop at the US-operated Pituffik Space Base on the island’s northwest coast. But even before the US delegation arrived, they were met with broad opposition to Trump’s annexation plans.
Here’s why the United States has shown so much interest in Greenland amid the territory’s own push for independence.
CHRISTIAN KLINDT SOELBECK/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images
‘We have to have it’
Before Vance’s trip to Greenland, Trump said the island was needed for “international safety and security.”
“We need it. We have to have it,” he told podcaster Vince Coglianese during a recent interview. “I hate to put it that way, but we’re going to have to have it.”
The feeling isn’t mutual.
A recent survey by the pollster Verian, commissioned by the Danish newspaper Berlingske and the Greenlandic daily Sermitsiaq, found that 85% of Greenlanders do not want to be a part of the United States.
Only 6% of respondents said they wanted to join the United States, and 9% of respondents said they were undecided.
Denmark gave Greenland and its population of about 57,000 people broad self-governing autonomy in 2009, which included the right to declare its independence from Denmark through a referendum.
Before Vance’s arrival, Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede told Sermitsiaq that the visit was “very aggressive,” especially with the presence of national security advisor Michael Waltz.
“What is the national security advisor doing in Greenland? The only purpose is to demonstrate power over us,” Egede, who has boosted a push for Greenland’s independence, told the newspaper. “His mere presence in Greenland will no doubt fuel American belief in Trump’s mission — and the pressure will increase.”
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A race for untapped mineral resources
After arriving in Greenland, Vance criticized Denmark, accusing it of leaving the island vulnerable to China and Russia.
Vance argued that Greenland would benefit from being under the “security umbrella” of the United States — as opposed to Denmark.
“Our message to Denmark is very simple — you have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” he said. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful land mass.”
In recent weeks, protesters have assembled in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital and most populous city, to rail against Trump’s rhetoric.
With independence potentially within sight, many of its citizens are apprehensive about Trump’s efforts to annex the island.
But Trump sees an opportunity and isn’t letting go.
The United States sees a future where global powers jockey for Greenland’s untapped mineral resources — particularly oil and gas — given that much of the island is within the Arctic Circle. And with melting ice transforming parts of the island, strategic shipping channels could open up.
That makes Greenland a major target for Trump’s America-first agenda.
