Trump wants to take over Greenland — but the island's economy faces ‘major challenges’

Donald Trump is funny successful annexing Greenland, an Arctic land offering a wealthiness of untapped mineral resources.

But arsenic the U.S. president dialled up the rhetoric astir America annexing the self-governing Danish territory, sparking a backlash from planetary leaders, a study elaborate the challenges facing its economy.

Published Tuesday, a study by Søren Bjerregaard, caput of securities and equilibrium of payments astatine Danmarks Nationalbank, warned that determination were "major challenges ahead" for Greenland's economy.

The Arctic island's system — mostly driven by the sportfishing manufacture — expanded by 0.8% successful 2025 and is expected to turn a further 0.8% this year, down from 2% successful 2022. According to the Danish cardinal bank, the slowdown is apt to continue.

"The Greenlandic system is slowing down, with humble maturation and superior challenges for nationalist finances," Bjerregaard wrote.

"This is partially due to the fact that the enlargement of infrastructure successful the signifier of airports is nearing completion, and planned large projects successful vigor proviso and different areas person not yet begun."

He added that astatine the aforesaid time, captious shrimp stocks were declining, portion nationalist finances "deteriorated amazingly sharply successful 2025." Part of the unit connected nationalist finances was arising from a alteration successful dividends from government-owned firms.

"Liquidity successful the Greenland Treasury fell to a critically debased level successful the 2nd fractional of the year," Bjerregaard said, noting that authorities acceptable to beryllium rolled retired this twelvemonth contains urgent fiscal tightening measures.

"More fiscal challenges prevarication ahead, with a declining and ageing colonisation putting further unit connected the economy," helium added.

Greenland's population, which stood astatine 56,699 successful the last 4th of 2025, is expected to shrink 20% by 2050, arsenic the territory struggles to pull migrants to regenerate emigrating residents.

In an interrogation with NBC News connected Monday, Trump said helium was "very serious" astir acquiring the Arctic island. A time earlier, helium told reporters that the U.S. needs Greenland to bolster its nationalist security.

He was speaking aft Washington launched a subject cognition successful Venezuela that led to the seizure of the country's president, Nicolas Maduro.

Trump aboriginal told The Atlantic America "absolutely" needs Greenland, with the president telling the mag that countries speech from Venezuela could beryllium taxable to U.S. intervention.

Trump has agelong floated the thought of taking Greenland. In aboriginal 2025, helium said the U.S. would presume power "one mode oregon the other."

Officials successful Greenland, Denmark, and across the European continent person rejected the conception that the U.S. tin marque immoderate assertion connected Greenland.

On Monday, Greenland's Prime Minister Jens Frederik Nielsen rebuked parallels betwixt the territory and Venezuela.

"The concern is not specified that the United States tin simply conquer Greenland," Nielsen told a property conference. "Our state is not truly the close 1 to comparison with Venezuela. We are a state that is antiauthoritarian and has been antiauthoritarian for many, galore years."