Why does Trump want Greenland to be part of the United States?

Why does the United States want to control Green Earth? President Trump has made clear that he believes the United States needs to control the Arctic island to ensure the security of the United States and its NATO allies, a point with which those allies (and Greenland) vehemently disagree.

But there is more at stake here, including a valuable shipping route and access to mineral resources.

This is what interests the United States about the semi-autonomous Danish territory:

“It’s so strategic right now”

Greenland spans approximately 836,000 square miles, much of it covered by the Greenland Ice Sheet. It is home to only about 60,000 people and is a semi-autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark with its own elected government.

Its location between the United States, Russia and Europe makes it strategic for both economic and defense purposes, especially as melting sea ice has opened new shipping routes through the Arctic. It is also the location of the northernmost US military base.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that the United States needs Greenland for national security reasons.

“It’s so strategic right now,” he told reporters on Sunday, January 4. “Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships everywhere… We need Greenland from a national security point of view, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it.”

“Americans have a strong interest in monitoring the activities of foreign countries in Greenland because it is a very large security asset for foreign states and because of that, any investment or activity, from the American point of view, can be seen as a security threat,” Frank Sejersen, an associate professor at the University of Copenhagen, told News themezone earlier this year.

Control over a valuable new shipping route

The melting of sea ice around Greenland has created more opportunities to use the Northern Sea Route, allowing shippers to save millions of dollars in fuel by taking a shorter route between Europe and Asia that was long only passable in the warmer months.

A Russian commercial ship, aided by an icebreaker, traveled the route for the first time in the winter of February 2021.

Greenland’s underground resources

Greenland has reserves of oil, natural gas and highly sought after mineral resources.

Those mineral resources, which include rare earth elements, “have only been lightly explored and developed,” said José W. Fernández, undersecretary for economic growth, energy and environment at the U.S. State Department, at a Greenland Mineral Security Partnership event in November 2024.

Greenland may have significant reserves of up to 31 different minerals, including lithium and graphite, according to a 2023 report assessing the island’s resources. Both minerals are needed to produce batteries for electric vehicles and a wide range of other technologies.

Currently, lithium production is dominated by Australia, Chile and China, while China produces about 65% of the world’s graphite, the report notes.

Greenland also has the potential to provide a significant amount of rare earth minerals such as neodymium, which is used to make magnets used in electric motors, according to the 2023 report.

China produces about 70% of rare earths and demand for rare earth minerals continues to grow with technological advances and the rapid spread of consumer devices that require those resources.

However, there are significant obstacles to mining in Greenland, including environmental and cost issues.

Most Greenlanders Don’t Want to Be Americans

Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said Tuesday that his country wants good relations with the U.S. and did not “think there could be an overnight takeover of the country, and that is why we insist that we want good cooperation.”

TO survey conducted a year ago showed that 85% of Greenlanders did not want to be part of the United States.

“He can’t take it like that,” said Daniel Rosing, a trainee electrician who said he was proud to be Greenlandic. told News themezone before a visit last year to the island by Vice President JD Vance and his wife.

A brief history of Greenland

The Kingdom of Denmark began colonizing Greenland in the early 18th century, hundreds of years after Vikings from the same distant land first arrived to take up residence.

It was not until World War II that the United States established a presence on the island, when the then-Danish ambassador to the United States, Henrik Kauffmann, refused to surrender to the government of Denmark’s Nazi occupiers.

Denmark was liberated from Nazi occupation in 1945, and the European nation continued as colonial ruler of Greenland until 1953, when it fully established its relations with the island as a semi-autonomous territory.

The United States never abandoned the Pituffik space base, which was established during World War II.