Lara Murray-Sterzel, Editor-In-Chief
Since Donald J. Trump was re-elected as president, there’s been a wave of sudden and drastic change happening. There’s been the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, the formation of DOGE, plans to dismantle the Department of Education, and fears of an economic recession. Now, Trump sets his eyes on a much bigger goal; turning Greenland into a U.S. territory. Trump calls Greenland a “must have in the United States.”
This isn’t the first time in history America has tried to turn Greenland into a territory. Back in 1946, Denmark declined a $100 million offer from America for the island and any past attempts made by America to obtain Greenland were always negotiated.
Last month Vice-President James Vance, the Second Lady Usha Vance, and National Advisor Micheal Waltz briefly visited Pituffik Space Base, a U.S. military base, stationed in Greenland. The trip came not long after the War Plans Group Chat Scandal, in which Trump’s top national security officials were caught discussing war plans for an upcoming military attack in Yemen. Waltz has since taken responsibility for creating the group chat and adding Jeffery Goldberg, the Editor-In-Chief of The Atlantic, who exposed it in an article.
Greenland is the world’s largest island, roughly three times the size of Texas. The land’s mostly covered in ice sheath and its mammoth glaciers take up over 80% of the island. But Greenland also holds the power of achieving mineral wealth. In fact, due to climate change, these minerals are more accessible now with the ice melting. These rare minerals include lithium and cobalt which can construct mobile phones, batteries, and electric motors.
While at the base, Vance met with U.S. service members and held a public conference where he argued that America can provide better national security compared to Denmark. “What we think is going to happen is that the Greenlanders are going to choose through self-determination to become independent of Denmark, and then we’re going to have conversations with the people of Greenland from there,” said Vance when asked about who will govern Greenland according to CBS News. A few hours after, the political officials departed Greenland and returned to Washington D.C. Through this trip,Vance became the highest ranking U.S. official ever to visit Greenland.
The base is meant to help protect the U.S. from ballistic missiles in the far north of Greenland. Beside the mineral riches, many have pointed out obtaining Greenland would also demonstrate political power. Greenland’s location gives it the advantage of the North Atlantic and control over new sea lanes in an event of an attack. If America obtains Greenland, it will be a display of intimidation for Russia and China.
“We need Greenland for national and international security. So we’ll go as far as we have to go. And the world needs us to have Greenland, including Denmark. Denmark has to have us have Greenland. And, you know, we’ll see what happens. But if we don’t have Greenland, we can’t have great international security,” Trump said, taking reporters’ questions in the Oval Office according to ABC News.
According to a poll, 85% of Greenlanders don’t want to be a part of America but want independence from Denmark. Greenlanders are afraid of what the Trump Administration will do if they take over the island and feel Trump’s after their natural resources. Last month, four political parties in Greenland agreed to create a new government to resist any attempts from America to annex the island.
“Greenland belongs to the Greenlandic people and Greenland is part of the Danish Kingdom and that is not going to change,” said Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen according to Global News. “I think that many Greenlandic politicians gradually, both before the election campaign, during the election campaign and also now, are very clear that Greenland wants to be Greenland and we fully support that from the Danish side.” However, Trump is still determined for America to take control of the island and has refused to rule out force to get it.
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