Greenland is the world’s largest non-continental island, and it takes up area rent-free in President Donald Trump’s head.
Since 2019, Trump has floated the thought of the US buying Greenland, a sovereign Danish territory, within the title of American nationwide safety and financial pursuits. The concept was short-lived when Trump first raised it, however returned with pressure late final 12 months.
Trump’s proposal took on a extra pressing tone when, in a January 7 information convention at Mar-a-Lago, he declined to rule out the thought of utilizing navy pressure to grab management of Greenland.
Much more just lately, in accordance with the Monetary Occasions, Trump reportedly spoke with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in a “horrendous” name the place he threatened tariffs. “The intent was very clear. They need it. The Danes at the moment are in disaster mode,” one European official informed the Monetary Occasions.
The renewed fervor behind Trump’s push to accumulate Greenland is pushed, a minimum of partially, by its clear geopolitical significance. Greenland rests amid main delivery routes which have grow to be more and more necessary as its ice sheet melts and new commerce routes emerge, and it sits above main deposits of oil, fuel, and uncommon earth minerals which might be important to on a regular basis applied sciences.
Greenland can also be on the forefront of an ongoing Arctic energy battle as Russia and China enhance their commerce, mining, and navy presence within the area.
Unsurprisingly, leaders in Denmark and Greenland — which has its personal parliament and prime minister, separate from Denmark — have pushed again strongly towards US expansionism and rejected Trump’s overtures.
“We’re not on the market and we’re not a commodity,” Naaja H. Nathanielsen, Greenland’s minister of Enterprise, Commerce, Mineral Assets, Justice, and Gender Equality, informed Vox. “We’ve a fantastic many associates within the US, so we’re an American ally. However we’re not People and don’t want to be People. We wish to be Greenlanders.”
Nathanielsen spoke with At this time, Defined host Noel King about Greenland’s rising strategic significance, how Greenlanders view Trump’s rhetoric, and what America may really do to work with the nation.
Beneath is an excerpt of their dialog, edited for size and readability. There’s way more within the full podcast, so take heed to At this time, Defined wherever you get your podcasts, together with Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and Spotify.
I’m imagining that lots of our listeners won’t have ever been to Greenland. Are you able to inform me a bit about what it’s like?
Effectively, I feel many individuals who come listed here are stunned by two issues. One factor is, after all, the fantastic thing about the character. All the things is huge and large, the mountains, the fjords and all that. However one other factor, I feel, that struck lots of people is it’s fairly trendy. I feel oftentimes you consider Greenland as one thing the place just a few folks dwell and there’s not plenty of exercise, however our cities appear to be many others. It is going to be recognizable for many individuals.
And how much persons are Greenlanders?
We’re Inuit. We’re Indigenous folks. So we include — I feel 90 % of the inhabitants, most individuals right here, are Greenlanders with Inuit roots. We do have lots of people from the Nordic international locations and from Asia as effectively. However primarily the inhabitants is made up by Inuit.
So we’ve a good looking nation with very trendy cities. If somebody have been planning a go to and needed to know what was actually necessary, what ought to they know?
Effectively, they need to know that Greenland is a trendy democracy, that we’ve our personal authorities, our personal parliament. We’ve a mineral sector. We’ve tourism. We’ve a fishing trade. So these are our main revenues. And in addition, you need to know that the Greenlandic tradition may be very vibrant and wealthy, regardless that we’re solely 55,000 folks. So there’s plenty of music, plenty of performs, plenty of cultural exercise, which is sort of spectacular for such a small inhabitants.
We have been reminded within the first half of our present that Donald Trump has really been speaking about Greenland in provocative methods since 2019. Can I ask what you thought if you first heard him single your nation out?
Effectively, at first, I feel we have been sort of stunned concerning the provide to purchase Greenland, and we’ve been making an attempt to determine what’s that about, what’s the story behind that.
And what do you perceive is the story behind that?
We perceive that it’s a measure of nationwide safety for the People. And to some extent, we perceive very a lot that Greenland is a part of the curiosity sphere of the US relating to nationwide safety. That’s the reason we’ve a navy base in Greenland.
And we do perceive that that is necessary for the monitoring of the Arctic as effectively. So we do agree with the navy presence in Greenland. We do agree with the concepts of increasing the monitoring of the Arctic. So to some extent we agree to what’s being mentioned, however that doesn’t comply with that we wish to be People. It simply follows that we perceive that Greenland has an significance for the US when it comes to nationwide safety.
You’re a authorities minister, and I perceive that diplomacy is one thing that is essential right here. However I kind of put the shoe on the opposite foot and I feel, as an American, if one other nation was speaking about shopping for the USA, I personally can be a bit offended, to be completely sincere with you.
Sure, however we’re offended. And I feel what you additionally want to grasp, as Inuit we take issues calmly. I imply, it doesn’t assist the state of affairs by panicking. So we’re not panicking, however we’re making an attempt to grasp what is that this about and making an attempt to work with it. The US is a really large nation in comparison with Greenland. We’re solely only a few thousand folks. So, after all, when the US says one thing, we have to take it significantly. And we perceive that generally politicians discuss an enormous recreation and need to ship a message that’s possibly extra meant for an viewers inside the nation. So I’m simply saying, we’re within the receiving finish and we don’t just like the rhetoric. We don’t respect it. However we wish to work with the message being despatched. We wish to work out how can we speak about this in a wise method.
Certain. And being necessary in a strategic sense, in an financial sense, isn’t actually a nasty factor. Typically it’s a really, excellent factor for a rustic.
Truthful sufficient! Which different international locations have expressed curiosity in buying Greenland?
I feel no different nation has had an curiosity in buying Greenland. However we do really feel that there’s extra emphasis on the Greenlandic minerals, for example, these previous couple of years, on a really unhappy backdrop as a result of local weather disaster and the struggle in Ukraine and the pandemic that confirmed defective provide chains. There’s been a deal with the place may we discover minerals and mine them in a rustic that’s accountable when it comes to atmosphere and governance. And Greenland is an effective slot in that manner. So we’ve been seeing a spurt of curiosity. That’s not the identical as [saying that] that has actually proven itself in plenty of investments from exterior. We’re nonetheless missing funding into the mineral sector, for example.
So maybe the message to President Trump is: We’d really welcome American funding.
We’d welcome American funding. We really made a cope with the previous Trump administration in 2019, the place we collectively explored a few of our potentials and had some initiatives collectively. And we’ve been making an attempt for a while to get the Biden administration to extend or broaden that settlement. So we have an interest in doing enterprise with the States. After all, that doesn’t imply we wish to be People, however we do wish to work with the States in a enterprise sense.
Donald Trump has mentioned a handful of provocative issues about Greenland, however maybe some of the provocative, a minimum of from the place I sit in the USA, is that he wouldn’t rule out navy pressure in making an attempt to accumulate Greenland. First, I assume, does that sort of discuss make you nervous? And second, how is the nation responding to one thing like that?
Effectively, after all this makes folks nervous. We’ve children that take heed to the media and so they say, “What’s going on? Is the States going to return and occupy us?” So it’s very unlucky rhetoric. So this has brought on my authorities to essentially attempt to convey to the general public: “Don’t panic, we’re making an attempt to work via this and work out what’s it about.” As a result of no, I don’t assume that our ally would occupy us. After all not. I don’t anticipate that from an ally. We’re a part of the Western alliance. We’re a part of NATO. We’re a good friend of the US. We’re a democracy and so is the US. What we are attempting to do is look past the rhetoric and see how can we work collectively after such an announcement.
I do hear you saying one thing that I feel is essential, which is that Donald Trump does discuss quite a bit. And we discovered in his first 4 years in workplace that generally he’s very severe and generally he’s really simply speaking. He’s speaking at instances to distract from different issues that he’s doing. Typically he’s simply kind of talking extemporaneously and issues slip out. I feel it’s truthful and factual to say each of these issues. Is there any sense that you’ve that maybe this isn’t all that severe?
I feel there was a real curiosity in Greenland for a while in America. So I feel it’s a good evaluation that he ought to be taken significantly about his want to broaden cooperation with Greenland in some type or different. I feel that must be taken fairly significantly. And it’s not just one particular person, as I perceive it. As I see it, it’s a few folks, a bunch of people that have an curiosity in Greenland. And you’ll see that additionally there was a invoice proposed about buying Greenland.
So I feel this isn’t only one particular person saying one thing. After all, you at all times have to take your president severe when he says one thing, and we do too. That’s the secret. However I get a way that there’s something extra than simply discuss.
