After a year of international tensions with Russia, Iran and most recently Venezuela, the “no new wars” president has now set his eyes upon Greenland. Citing national security concerns, Donald Trump has made it clear that he believes the United States should acquire Greenland by any means necessary.
Greenland, an autonomous territory of NATO member Denmark, is the world’s largest island with vast untapped rare earth metals. During his first term in 2019, Trump offered to purchase Greenland from the Danish government, but this was rejected.
Since then, Trump has suggested military force could be used to take Greenland. According to the Wall Street Journal, when asked how far he was willing to go in order to acquire Greenland, Trump ominously replied, “You’ll find out.”
In response, countless European leaders have condemned Trump’s actions, warning that an invasion would lead to the collapse of NATO. In other words, United States military action against a NATO member would negate the entire point of a defensive alliance.
These actions by Trump can be described by one word: Idiotic.
Simply put, the United States has no justification for invading Greenland. The Trump administration claims that it is a matter of national security to defend themselves from Russia in the Arctic. However, this argument completely falls apart due to the fact that Denmark is a U.S. ally and has allowed the United States to build bases in Greenland previously.
According to the New York Times, Denmark has increased its military presence on the island along with other European soldiers. While this will not likely result in actual military engagement between U.S. and European troops, this does display a massive rift within NATO at a time in which Russia seems keen on expansion. Ironically, in a move to “protect” the United States from Russia, President Trump has seemed to only embolden them by weakening their opponents.
Ultimately, it seems very clear that “national security” is a dubious justification for a potential invasion of Greenland. So why would Trump express such an interest despite intense opposition? Natural resources.
This echoes the recent United States intervention in Venezuela, an operation justified by “protecting Americans” from Venezuelan drugs. However, ABC News reports that Trump briefed oil executives before the capture of the Venezuelan President while leaving congress in the dark. This casts doubt upon the president’s stated reason and makes it seem likely that Venezuela’s massive oil reserves were the real priority.
Greenland very well could be the exact same case with their rare minerals critical to semiconductor production. While there could be some abstract justification if Denmark refused to trade with the U.S., Denmark has a long history of economic cooperation with America and other NATO members. In fact, Trump’s protectionist policies are the only real strain upon this relationship (until now).
Tarnishing a decades-long healthy alliance at a critical point for material resources would be foolish. If NATO were to collapse from this trivial matter, Russia would be salivating at the opportunity to expand into their former territory as seen with their invasion of Ukraine.
Ultimately, the way to protect American national security interests from Russia is not by abandoning and betraying our allies, but rather emboldening our partnerships both militarily and economically. Denmark is a nation that has shown a history of willingness to work with the U.S. through trade and the establishment of military bases.
Destroying this relationship for the sake of making our country bigger on a map would be a massive mistake.
Over the next few months, the world will wait on edge (or perhaps excitedly if you are Russian) as we wait to see to what extent Trump will go to take Greenland. Hopefully, the efforts of Europe will deter the United States and reaffirm unity within NATO.