The first signals from Trump date back to May 2019, when he floated the idea of real estate operations on the island. In his second term, the ambitions have taken on another dimension, to the point of alarming European allies. In his first State of the Union address to Congress, the commander-in-chief declared that he supports the right of the Greenlandic people to determine their own future and that he is ready to say “welcome to the United States.”
Not just Venezuela. From the equator to the Arctic, Donald Trump’s target could now be the much-desired Greenland, a no longer “forbidden” dream that would allow the United States access to its mineral-rich subsoil and its strategic positioning. Precisely where competition with Russia and China is increasingly fierce, especially due to global warming, which is causing the progressive melting of ice during the milder seasons, opening up new commercial and military routes.
And here, on the euphoric wave of the blitz in Caracas, which preceded the capture of Nicolás Maduro, the American president openly declares: “We need Greenland, absolutely. We need it for protection”. From Brussels comes a first reaction that apparently has to do with Venezuela, but which indirectly also constitutes a prohibitive signal for Greenland: “The EU shares the priority of the fight against organized crime and drug trafficking, a significant threat at a global level. At the same time, the EU emphasizes that these challenges must be faced through cooperation and in full respect of international law and the principles of territorial integrity and sovereignty”.
Trump talks about Greenland in The Atlantic magazine, in a disturbing exchange with Katie Miller, an openly right-wing podcaster and the wife of Stephen Miller, Trump’s powerful deputy chief of staff for policy.
It is her post published on X a few hours ago, which shows a map of Greenland wrapped in the stars and stripes flag, accompanied by the inscription: “Coming soon”. A provocation that has sparked immediate reactions from interested parties. The Prime Minister of the autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, has called the message “rude”. “Relations between states and peoples are based on mutual respect and international law, not on symbolic gestures that ignore our status and rights,” he wrote on X, adding: “Our country is not for sale and our future is not decided on social networks”.
The Danish ambassador to the United States retweeted Miller’s provocation, accompanying it with a “friendly reminder” of the strong defense ties between the two countries: “We are close allies and must continue to cooperate as such. The security of the United States is also the security of Greenland and Denmark.”
Copenhagen has increased defense spending by 2025, allocating $13.7 billion, “usable in the Arctic and North Atlantic.” The first signals from Trump date back to May 2019, when he floated the idea of real estate operations on the island. In his second term, ambitions have taken on another dimension, to the point of alarming European allies. In his first State of the Union address to Congress, the commander-in-chief declared that he supports the right of the Greenlandic people to determine their own future and that he is ready to say “welcome to the United States.”
The “land of ice” is also home to the northernmost US military base, Pituffik, visited in March by Vice President JD Vance, a visit that was not without controversy over the appropriateness of the mission. The US president later refused to rule out the use of force to take control of the territory: “I’m not saying I will, but I’m not ruling anything out. We really need Greenland.”
In the same NBC interview, given in May, he added: “Greenland has a very small population, we will take care of them. But we need it for international security.”
According to some polls, almost 80% of the more than 56,800 inhabitants want independence from Denmark, but almost 100% have rejected the idea of joining the United States. Recently, Donald Trump has appointed Jeff Landry, the governor of Louisiana, as a special envoy for Greenland. Landry, a former attorney general of the state, thanked Trump for the assignment in December, calling it “an honor to serve in this voluntary role to make Greenland part of the United States”. Greenland, then, but perhaps not only that, considering the allusions to Cuba and Colombia made by the administration during the press conference after the blitz in Caracas. And especially in light of what Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared, according to which the world should take the operation in Venezuela as an example.
“When he says he’s going to do something, when he says he’s going to tackle a problem,” the head of American diplomacy concluded, referring to Trump, “he really does it.”