President Trump’s plans to send representatives to Greenland this week have angered political leaders on the island territory, who see the group’s visit as an aggressive escalation of his threats to seize the area, by force if necessary.
Mr. Trump has made no secret of his designs on Greenland, repeating his threats to acquire the territory through a financial transaction or military force several times since his return to the Oval Office. To date, the response of Greenland’s leaders has been polite but firmly opposed, stating it was not for sale.
But this week’s visits from Usha Vance, the second lady, and Mike Waltz, the national security adviser, have elicited a more agitated response. Prime Minister Mute Bourup Egede told Sermitsiaq, a local newspaper, that their expected arrival, little more than two weeks after Greenland held parliamentary elections, is “highly aggressive,” and “the only purpose is to demonstrate power over us.”
He also said he feared that the visit would drum up fervor in the United States for a takeover of Greenland, “and the pressure will increase after the visit.”
So why is Mr. Trump so determined to have Greenland? Here’s a window into his thinking.
Greenland is in strategically important territory.
Most of Greenland lies within the Arctic Circle, a region that the world’s powers are vying for over for its untapped natural resources and its proximity to emerging shipping corridors that would accelerate global trade. Already, melting Arctic ice has transformed the region that was once largely unnavigable into an area of competitive commerce, as more ships traverse the Arctic Circle and countries with land in the region scramble to lay claim to as much of the seabed as possible.
Routes between Asia and Europe, or Asia and the United States, are about 40 percent shorter through the Arctic than either the Suez or Panama Canals, according to the U.S. Naval Institute. That makes the question of who controls the seas there critical for both financial and security purposes, especially given the claimants also happen to be rival geopolitical superpowers.