Greenland: America's northern rampart?

John J. Metzler

Everybody it seems is suddenly interested in Greenland. Canada, Russia, China and the United States all are vying for a foothold on the Arctic island. A fantastically beautiful but often foreboding place locked in ice and isolation, Greenland’s remoteness has been both its blessing and its bane. This may now be changing.

In a politically stunning New Year’s Address from the capital Nuuk, Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte Egede has called for “independence from Denmark.”

Given its geographic location and largely untapped mineral riches, Greenland has gained the overdue attention of both nearby and faraway countries, both as a place of mining and foreign investment as well as a military base for security through emerging Arctic Ocean waters and maritime passageways.

The remote if overlooked Arctic island, three times the size of Texas, sits between North America and Europe, just north of busy commercial aviation routes. Once a colony, Greenland became self-ruling with its own parliament since 1979. Greenland remains a Danish territory, with Copenhagen exercising control over its foreign and defense policy.

Though a self-governing region of the Kingdom of Denmark, Greenland is largely dependent on the Copenhagen government for revenue, trade and protection. The entire population of 57,000, mostly Inuit, is that of one medium-sized American city. Greenland receives an annual subsidy of around €500 million, ($550 million) supporting a classic Scandinavian social welfare state.

Denmark is a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and a very close ally of the United States. During the Cold War, Greenland hosted a number of U.S. military bases, most of which have been phased out. Even today, the Thule facility near the North Pole remains a vital American facility over the Arctic horizon radar, monitoring Russian airspace and communications.

This writer has had the privilege to visit Greenland on a few occasions during the region’s relatively warm and nearly always daylight summer to accompany units of the New York Air National Guard, who maintain a unique airbridge to the territory. In the past, flights serviced the Sondrestrom Air Base, served by an Air Guard C-130 Ski-plane Squadron flying in supplies and supporting inland icecap locations.

Does truth mirror fiction? In the popular edgy Danish political drama series "Borgen" on Netflix, the most recent season (2022) evokes the current situation. A Canadian petroleum company sets up in Greenland largely with local approval. Before long it turns out the company has secret Russian connections, which triggers immediate American security concerns. Chinese investors are then meddling in the mix. As Denmark remains responsible for Greenland’s foreign affairs, the indefatigable Minister Birgitte Nyborg walks a political tightrope between giving political space to the self-governing Greenland government while at the same time being pressured by Washington. The entire imbroglio causes the near collapse of the Danish coalition government.

Now enter U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. He recently stated that American control of Greenland now has become an “absolute necessity.” But this is more aspirational namely to get Denmark to do more for its own defense, which still remains below the 2 percent NATO requirement. After Trump’s comments, the Danes said they would send a few extra ships and two long-range dog-sled teams to beef up defense in an area bigger than Alaska.

Following World War II, U.S. President Harry Truman offered to buy Greenland from the Danes and got an icy response from our ally. Trump was equally rebuffed by the Greenland government and Copenhagen. Egede declared Greenland is “not for sale.”

Under a 2009 agreement with Denmark, Greenland can only declare independence after a successful referendum.

Trump’s offer is not novel. During his first administration, he offered to buy Greenland. Indeed the U.S. bought the Danish West Indies in 1917 for $25 million in gold. They’re now called the U.S. Virgin Islands. That was about strategy, too, in the midst of World War I. The incoming Trump administration asserts that both mineral deposits as well as maritime lanes of communication across the Atlantic and possible new channels in the Arctic Ocean call for Greenland’s pro-active defense.

A 2024 public opinion poll taken by the University of Greenland's Rasmus Leander Nielsen and Maria Ackrén shows that of respondents, 59 percent favor wider cooperation with the U.S. and 80 percent with Canada, as compared to 12 percent with Russia and 25 percent with China. But only 18.8 percent favor closer security links with the U.S. despite 44 percent favoring ties to NATO.

Egede demanded, “It is now time to take the next step for our country.”

He should speak with Trump about a deal.

John J. Metzler is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He is the author of "Divided Dynamism: The Diplomacy of Separated Nations: Germany, Korea, China."