U.S. says it has no plans to increase military presence in Greenland

It’s about resource control U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump’s desire to buy Greenland could have major implications for Canadian resources. Tyler Barrow explains.

COPENHAGEN — The United States has no current plans to increase its military presence in Greenland, the U.S. embassy in Copenhagen said on Thursday, after President-elect Donald Trump expressed renewed interest in acquiring the vast Arctic island.

Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, said this week that U.S. control of the strategically important island was an "absolute necessity" and did not rule out using military or economic action such as tariffs against Denmark to make it happen.

Greenland, the world's largest island, has been a part of Denmark for over 600 years, although its 57,000 people now govern their own domestic affairs.

"There are no plans to increase the United States' current military footprint in Greenland," the spokesperson told Reuters. "We will continue to work closely with Copenhagen and Nuuk (Greenland's capital) to ensure any proposals meet our common security needs."

Greenland is crucial for the U.S. military and its ballistic missile early-warning system, since the shortest route from Europe to North America runs via the island.

The U.S. military maintains a permanent presence at the Pituffik air base in Greenland's northwest.

A former Danish colony, Greenland is now broadly self-governing within the kingdom of Denmark. Security and foreign affairs are still handled by Copenhagen.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said this week she could not imagine that the United States, a close NATO ally, would use military intervention in Greenland and said it was up to the people of Greenland to decide what they want.

'Tightrope'

Frederiksen summoned leaders of Denmark's political parties to a meeting at 1830 GMT on Thursday for a briefing about Trump's renewed interest.

In 2019 Frederiksen rebuffed an offer from Trump to buy Greenland, prompting him to call her a "nasty lady" and cancel a planned visit to Denmark.

On Wednesday Frederiksen hosted Greenland's leader Mute Egede for talks in Copenhagen and was in contact with several European leaders to discuss Trump's remarks. Egede favors independence for his homeland and has said it is not for sale.

"They're walking a tightrope," said Lin Alexandra Mortensgaard, a Greenland expert at the Danish Institute for International Studies, referring to the Danish and Greenland prime ministers.

"It's a balance between representing an autonomous territory and representing a sovereign state while still taking the requirements of Denmark's closest ally seriously," she said.

Denmark's European allies France and Germany have responded to Trump's comments by stressing the inviolability of borders.

Britain's foreign minister David Lammy said on Thursday he believed Trump recognized that Greenland was part of Denmark and that concerns about Russian and Chinese activity in the Arctic lay behind the U.S. president-elect's remarks.

The Kremlin said on Thursday that Moscow was following closely the "dramatic developments" on Greenland and said the Arctic fell within Russia's zone of strategic national interests.

In Greenland, opinions on the island's future appear divided, with some warmly welcoming Trump's remarks and others responding skeptically.

Danish lawmakers across the political spectrum have urged Frederiksen, a Social Democrat, to firmly reject any attempt by foreign powers to undermine Greenland's status.

"The U.S. wants to take over Denmark's role in Greenland, and the Danish government must say a clear and unequivocal no to that," conservative lawmaker and former minister Rasmus Jarlov said on X.

(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersenand Louise Rasmussen, editing by Stine Jacobsen and Gareth Jones)