Greenlanders unnerved as Arctic island finds itself in geopolitical storm

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Danish officials next week to discuss the fate of Greenland, the semi-autonomous region of Denmark that President Donald Trump says he needs for national security.

The vast island finds itself in the eye of a geopolitical storm with Trump’s name on it, and its people are clearly disheartened.

However, it looks very peaceful when you fly. Mountains covered in ice and snow stretch as far as the eye can see, intersected here and there by sparkling fjords between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans.

It is said that he sits on top of the world; most of it is above the Arctic Circle.

Although Greenland is nine times the size of England, it has a population of only 57,000, mostly indigenous Inuit.

You can find the largest cluster of Greenlanders on the southwest coast in the capital, Nuuk. We arrived there as a frozen dusk was falling on the snow-covered pedestrian streets.

Parents dragged their children home from school on sleds, and students darted in and out of brightly lit shopping malls. Few people here wanted to talk to us about concerns about Trump. The voice of those who did this was very gloomy.

One of the retirees told me that the United States should never have planted a flag in Greenland’s capital by tapping his cane on the ground for emphasis.

An anonymous woman who says she doesn’t trust everyone these days admitted that after watching Trump’s military intervention in Venezuela, she was “scared to death” about the possibility of taking over the island by force.

Meanwhile, potter Pilu Chemnitz, in his 20s, said: “I think we are all very tired of the US president. We have always lived a quiet and peaceful life here.

“Of course, the colonization of Denmark caused a lot of trauma for a lot of people, but we just want to be left alone.”

Far from opposing a US takeover, 85% of Greenlanders say they do, with most saying they are in favor of independence from Denmark; but many tell me they also appreciate the subsidies that come from welfare states that help support them. Despite being rich in untapped natural resources, poverty is a real problem in Inuit communities.

In general, Greenlanders want a bigger and louder say not only in their domestic policies but also in their foreign relations.

I went to the island’s modest-looking parliament; its hull was built in Scandinavian style with wooden slats and painted the same bright red as the Greenlandic flags flying at the entrance.

There is no security check. They were all quite comfortable. Except for the emblem of a roaring polar bear, the symbol of Greenland, engraved on every sliding glass door we pass.

I was there to meet Pipaluk Lynge-Rasmussen, co-chair of the parliament’s foreign affairs committee. He is an MP for the pro-independence Inuit Ataqatigiit party, which is part of the coalition government here.

“I think it’s very important that we talk openly about what we want as a people,” he told me. “We have always worked for independence, when we gained self-government in 1979 and when we achieved greater independence in 2009.”

I asked Lynge-Rasmussen if she felt that the major global powers (the US, Denmark, NATO and the EU) are now talking more about Greenland than talking to the islanders about their own fate.

He nodded vigorously. Perhaps surprisingly, rather than blaming Trump for ignoring the Greenlanders’ wants and needs, he blames Denmark.

Although Greenland and the Faroe Islands are part of the Kingdom of Denmark, he says he has always felt they were treated as second-class citizens.

However, Lynge-Rasmussen insisted that Greenlanders should not see themselves as victims in the current situation. Instead, he suggests that they attract international attention to demonstrate their importance and fulfill their priorities.

“How about the meeting with Rubio next week,” I asked.

“I hope the meeting ends with understanding and compromise,” he replied.

“Maybe we’re doing business [the US] from here… maybe cooperating in trade or mining, having more Americans [military] Could it be bases in Greenland?”

Under a bilateral agreement with Denmark dating back to 1951, the United States can bring as many U.S. troops as it wants to Greenland.

This has left European allies wondering aloud why Trump feels the need to unilaterally “take” the island: whether buying the island—apparently Washington’s preferred option, encouraging the Greenlanders to vote in a plebiscite to become part of the United States, or taking Greenland by force is something the Trump administration refuses to rule out.

Military muscles don’t need to be flexed too much. Greenland has few trained soldiers and no military bases of its own.

Trump and US Vice President JD Vance justify their need to “take” Greenland by saying Denmark has not done enough to secure the island. Copenhagen opposes this.

It is also worth noting that the US already has a military base in Greenland and has chosen to radically reduce its presence there from around 10,000 personnel at the height of the Cold War to around 200 currently.

Until recently, the United States had long been away from the security of the Arctic.

Trump’s intense interest in the candidate is likely a mix of the following:

• perceived national security concerns
• Hunger for Greenland’s rich natural resources, including rare earths and minerals
• and his loudly expressed desire to dominate America.

Geographically, Greenland is part of North America.

It is approximately 1,609 km closer to New York City than Copenhagen.

Opposition MP Pele Broberg of the Naleraq Party told me that this should make Greenlanders think a bit.

He said people are afraid of what Trump might do to Greenland because they are misinformed, largely due to media hysteria.

“True, we are not for sale, but we are open for business. Or we should be.

“We are now a colony. We are forced to import our goods from Denmark, which is 4,000 kilometers away, rather than from the United States, which is much closer.”

Broberg described his organization as the island’s true independence party, saying it was pushing for freedom so that Greenlanders could trade with any party or country they chose (the United States, Denmark, or others) on their own terms.

But right now, the US is making demands instead of trade agreements between equals.

So what exactly are Trump’s national security priorities in Greenland?

To put it briefly: The shortest way for a Russian ballistic missile to reach the continental United States is through Greenland and the North Pole.

Washington DC already has an early warning air base on the island; but Greenland could serve as a base for missile interceptors as part of the Trump administration’s proposed “Golden Dome” system: a plan to protect the United States from all missile attacks.

The US is also reportedly discussing placing radar in the waters called the GIUK Gap, which connects Greenland, Iceland and the UK. This is a gateway for Chinese and Russian ships that Washington wants to monitor.

Once you are in Greenland, there is no evidence visible to the naked eye to support Trump’s recent claims that there are numerous Chinese and Russian ships around the island.

Last week, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian criticized Washington for “using the so-called ‘China threat’ as an excuse for selfish gain” in the Arctic.

But Russia and China are expanding their military capabilities and strengthening their cooperation elsewhere in the region by conducting joint maritime patrols and jointly developing new shipping routes.

Under pressure from Western sanctions on Ukraine, Moscow is keen to send more ships to Asia.

Beijing is seeking shorter and more profitable sea routes to Europe.

Navigation of the northern sea route is becoming easier due to melting ice, and Greenland opened its representative office in Beijing in 2023 with the aim of establishing deeper relations with China.

NATO allies hope to convince Washington they are serious when it comes to Arctic security. British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer reportedly met with the US president multiple times last week and told him he would further increase Europe’s presence in the region. He also calls on European leaders to increase their cooperation with the United States.

Greenland, Denmark and its NATO allies believe there is room to negotiate with Rubio next week and that it is at least unlikely, but not impossible, that Trump will attack Greenland militarily.

Geographically, the Arctic powers are Denmark, the USA, Canada, Russia, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. An Arctic Council representing them all has long sought to preserve the mantra: high north, low voltage.

But Washington’s military chest-fighting and unilateralism over Greenland, plus the struggle to gain a broader advantage among global superpowers, heightens the real sense of danger in the region.

The delicate balance in the Arctic that has existed for decades since the end of the Cold War and has been managed equally since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 could be dangerously disrupted.