Fears over the future of Greenland have been heightened this week, as the White House says Donald Trump is considering taking the Danish territory by military force.
The US president sees annexing Greenland as a “national security priority” and that he regards sending in troops as “always an option”, according to a report by Reuters.
After the raids on Venezuela and the capture of Nicolas Maduro last weekend, Trump’s bellicose rhetoric is now being taken more seriously by fellow world leaders.
What is Trump’s plan?
According to a senior US official quoted by Reuters, Trump wants to gain control of Greenland within the next three years before he completes his second term in office.
Options include the US buying the territory from Denmark, or forming a Compact of Free Association within Greenland. This latter move would not make Greenland a US state but a semi-autonomous territory of the US.
The official also did not rule out the use of military force.
And at the weekend, Trump made clear that he still sees annexation as a live US foreign policy objective, telling The Atlantic: “We do need Greenland, absolutely. We need it for defence.”
Is military action likely?
Defence experts see Trump’s threat of military force as a hardline negotiating position that he is setting out now but would be unlikely to actually carry out.
The Labour MP Calvin Bailey, a member of the defence select committee and a former RAF officer, told The i Paper this week that Trump’s threat of force was a “maximalist position on what he will tolerate” when it came to Greenland but that “annexation or attempted annexation is just not feasible”.
The MP added: “What I think he’s doing is asking Europe to come closer to the position that he’s at. He always starts with an extreme outcome, and his way of bargaining is assuming that we’ll find some place in the middle.”
How have European leaders reacted?
On Tuesday, leading European Nato leaders, meeting for talks in Paris on Ukraine, issued an extraordinary joint statement effectively telling Trump to back off from his intentions over Greenland.
The audaciousness of the US operation in Venezuela on Saturday – and apparent willingness of the Trump administration to pursue regime change on a flimsy legal basis – has dismayed many in the international community.
The statement, signed by Sir Keir Starmer and the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and Denmark, warned they would defend the “universal principles” of “sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders”.
Why does Trump want Greenland?
The territory holds huge strategic importance in the North Atlantic and Arctic regions, positioned between Canada and Russia’s northernmost seas.
It is the world’s largest island, covering an area of 2.16 million square kilometres, and at the moment is mostly covered in ice.
But as the Arctic sea ice melts due to climate change, the waters in that region are opening new trade routes and important naval passages.
The US already has the Thule air base stationed on Greenland, from where it monitors military activity in the Arctic Circle.
Vice President JD Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance toured the US military’s Pituffik Space Base in Greenland in March last year (Photo: Jim Watson/Pool via AP)Greenland is also rich in critical minerals needed for defence, battery technology and AI, including rare earths, nickel, copper, graphite and zinc.
The Arctic seabed is also rich in gold, oil and natural gas. Access to these critical minerals and valuable resources is also expanding due to melting glaciers.
Currently, the US shares rights to resources in the Arctic region with Canada, Denmark, Norway and Russia. But if the US annexes Greenland, it would scoop up more of that access.
The Arctic region poses defence and security challenges, with Russia beefing up its military presence there over the past decade. The region was deprioritised by Russia and the US following the Cold War but from 2010 onwards, Russian President Vladimir Putin began to remilitarise – beefing up the Northern Fleet and increasing patrols of nuclear subs.
Experts have previously warned that Nato has been slow to respond to this.
China is also enhancing its military and commercial shipping interests in the Arctic. Beijing has made clear its intentions by the unveiling of a new “polar-ready” cargo ship that can carve through sea ice more easily.
Last year, The i Paper revealed that Starmer’s Government had set up a new ministerial group – spanning nine departments – to formulate a co-ordinated Arctic policy and tackle the defence and security challenges.
What have Greenland and Denmark said?
After Trump’s comments at the weekend, and the capture of Maduro, Greenland’s prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen warned Trump to drop its “fantasies of annexation”, adding: “That’s enough now.”
He wrote on Facebook: “No more pressure. No more insinuations. No more fantasies of annexation.
“We are open to dialogue. We are open to discussions. But this must happen through the proper channels and with respect for international law.”
Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen said: “It makes absolutely no sense to talk about the US needing to take over Greenland.
“The US has no right to annex any of the three countries in the Danish kingdom.
“I would therefore strongly urge the US to stop the threats against a historically close ally and against another country and another people who have very clearly said that they are not for sale.”
And Jesper Moller Sorensen, Denmark’s ambassador to Washington, issued a “friendly reminder” on X that Copenhagen expected “full respect” for its territorial integrity.
Where does the UK stand on this issue?
When Trump launched his rhetoric about Greenland annexation last year, Downing Street said the UK was “clear that Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and the future of their constitutional arrangements is a matter for the people and government of Greenland”.
Denmark is a key ally of the UK as a member of Nato and the British-led Joint Expeditionary Force of northern European nations which carries out military exercises and rapid response operations to hostile activity in the Arctic and North Atlantic and Baltic Sea.
On Monday morning, Starmer said he “stands” with Denmark, adding that Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was “right” to refuse the US President any claim to the territory.
By Tuesday, the UK PM had stepped up his response with the joint statement alongside fellow European leaders.
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