Trump Needs Greenland. Greenland Would not Wish to Be Dominated at All.

Danish officers have repeatedly advised President Donald Trump that Greenland is “not on the market.”

Trump would not appear to care.

The president continues to advertise his imaginative and prescient for taking on Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark, arguing the island is required to bolster US safety and its shares of strategic assets.

Throughout his joint tackle to Congress earlier this month, the president stated the USA would take management of Greenland “someway.” And not too long ago, Trump declined to rule out navy power.

Vice President JD Vance and his spouse, Usha, arrived in Greenland on Friday, embarking on a scaled-back journey that included a cease on the US-operated Pituffik House Base on the island’s northwest coast. However even earlier than the US delegation arrived, they had been met with broad opposition to Trump’s annexation plans.

This is why the USA has proven a lot curiosity in Greenland amid the territory’s personal push for independence.

‘We now have to have it’

Earlier than Vance’s journey to Greenland, Trump stated the island was wanted for “worldwide security and safety.”

“We’d like it. We now have to have it,” he advised podcaster Vince Coglianese throughout a latest interview. “I hate to place it that method, however we will must have it.”

The sensation is not mutual.

A latest survey by the pollster Verian, commissioned by the Danish newspaper Berlingske and the Greenlandic every day Sermitsiaq, discovered that 85% of Greenlanders don’t wish to be part of the USA.

Solely 6% of respondents stated they wished to affix the USA, and 9% of respondents stated they had been undecided.

Denmark gave Greenland and its inhabitants of about 57,000 individuals broad self-governing autonomy in 2009, which included the suitable to declare its independence from Denmark via a referendum.

Earlier than Vance’s arrival, Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede advised Sermitsiaq that the go to was “very aggressive,” particularly with the presence of nationwide safety advisor Michael Waltz.

“What’s the nationwide safety advisor doing in Greenland? The one objective is to reveal energy over us,” Egede, who has boosted a push for Greenland’s independence, advised the newspaper. “His mere presence in Greenland will little doubt gas American perception in Trump’s mission — and the strain will enhance.”

A race for untapped mineral assets

After arriving in Greenland, Vance criticized Denmark, accusing it of leaving the island weak to China and Russia.

Vance argued that Greenland would profit from being below the “safety umbrella” of the USA — versus Denmark.

“Our message to Denmark may be very easy — you haven’t finished a superb job by the individuals of Greenland,” he stated. “You could have under-invested within the individuals of Greenland, and you’ve got under-invested within the safety structure of this unimaginable, stunning land mass.”

In latest weeks, protesters have assembled in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital and most populous metropolis, to rail towards Trump’s rhetoric.

With independence probably close by, lots of its residents are apprehensive about Trump’s efforts to annex the island.

However Trump sees a possibility and is not letting go.

The US sees a future the place international powers jockey for Greenland’s untapped mineral assets — notably oil and gasoline — on condition that a lot of the island is throughout the Arctic Circle. And with melting ice remodeling components of the island, strategic delivery channels might open up.

That makes Greenland a serious goal for Trump’s America-first agenda.