Denmark boosts Greenland defence after Trump repeats desire for US control

Analysts say that the plan has been under discussion for a long time and should not be seen as a direct response to Trump’s comments.

Until now Denmark has been very slow to expand its military capacity in Greenland, they say, but if the country is not able to protect waters around the territory against encroachments by China and Russia then US demands for greater control are likely to grow.

Army Maj Steen Kjaergaard of the Danish Defence Academy suggests it may have been Trump’s intention to pressure Denmark into such a move.

“It is likely to be sparked by the renewed Trump focus on the need for air and maritime control around Greenland and the internal developments in Greenland where some are voicing a will to look towards the US – a new international airport in Nuuk was just inaugurated,” he told the BBC.

“I think Trump is smart… he gets Denmark to prioritise its Arctic military capabilities by raising this voice, without having to take over a very un-American welfare system,” he said, referring to Greenland’s heavy dependence on subsidies from Copenhagen.

Trump’s original suggestion in 2019 that the US acquire Greenland, which is the world’s largest island, led to a similarly sharp rebuke from leaders there.

At the time Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederickson described the idea as “absurd”, leading Trump to cancel a state trip to the country.

He is not the first US president to suggest buying Greenland. The idea was first mooted during the 1860s under the presidency of Andrew Johnson.