Why does Trump want Greenland and could he get it?

 

COPENHAGEN, Jan 8 (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump says he wants to make Greenland a part of the United States and does not rule out using military or economic power to get Denmark to hand over the mineral-rich and strategically important island. 

"Greenland is an incredible place, and the people will benefit tremendously if, and when, it becomes part of our Nation," Trump said in a Truth Social post on Monday. 

"This is a deal that must happen," Trump said on Tuesday as his son, Donald Trump Jr., paid a private visit to Greenland. Trump first expressed interest in buying the mostly ice-covered island of just 57,000 people from Denmark in 2019 but was rebuffed. 

WHY DOES TRUMP WANT GREENLAND? 

Greenland, part of NATO through the membership of Denmark, has strategic significance for the U.S. military and for its ballistic missile early-warning system since the shortest route from Europe to North America runs via the Arctic island.

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Okay, Trump Is Serious About Acquiring Greenland

When Trump first broached the idea of the U.S. buying Greenland during his first term, the media treated it as a joke. It is clear now, however, that Trump himself is not laughing, and never has been. He is deadly serious, not just about Greenland, but about the Panama Canal, as well as, most likely, about Canada. When questioned on Tuesday about his designs on Greenland, Trump offered two reasons for why he thought it was in America’s interest to obtain the territory and even threatened Denmark if it didn’t comply.

Trump said that the U.S. needed Greenland as a matter of national security:

We need Greenland for national security purposes. I’ve been told that for a long time, long before I even ran, I mean, people have been talking about it for a long time. You have approximately 45,000 people there. People really don’t even know if Denmark has any legal right to it, but if they do, they should give it up, because we need it for national security. That’s for the free world. I’m talking about protecting the free world. You look at — you don’t even need binoculars. You look outside, you have China, ships all over the place, you have Russian ships all over the place. We’re not lettin’ that happen. We’re not letting it happen.

Then came the threat to Denmark:

And if Denmark wants to, uh, get to a conclusion — but nobody knows if they even have any right title or interest, the people are gonna probably vote for independence, or to come into the United States. But if they did do that, then I would tariff Denmark at a very high level.

Leaving aside the question of whether or not Denmark really has any legal title over Greenland, Trump’s warning of tariffs was perfectly reasonable. Acquiring Greenland, he said, was a matter of “protecting the free world.” That includes Denmark, which, after all, was a founding member of NATO in 1949 and so relies on the United States for its security. Trump seems to be working from the premise that the security that the U.S. provides for Denmark should not be a one-way street and that the Danes, along with the other NATO countries, should be expected to do what was best for the entire alliance.