Why Trump wants Greenland — and what makes it so important for national security

U.S. President Donald Trump is fixated connected taking power of Greenland, a vast, sparsely populated and mineral-rich land situated betwixt the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean.

"It's truthful strategic," Trump told reporters connected committee Air Force One connected Sunday. "Right now, Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships each implicit the place. We request Greenland from the standpoint of nationalist security."

His comments, which came blistery connected the heels of an audacious military cognition successful Venezuela, sounded the alarm crossed Europe, with Denmark informing that an American takeover of Greenland would people the extremity of the NATO subject alliance.

The U.S. president, however, is yet to waver. Indeed, the White House ramped up transatlantic tensions adjacent further connected Tuesday, saying that Trump and his squad are considering "a scope of options" to marque the self-governing Danish territory a portion of the United States — including "utilizing the U.S. Military."

Positioned betwixt the U.S. and Russia, Greenland has agelong been viewed arsenic an country of precocious strategical importance, peculiarly erstwhile it comes to Arctic security.

The territory of astir 57,000 radical is successful adjacent proximity to emerging Arctic shipping routes, with the accelerated melting of crystal creating opportunities to substantially reduce Asia-Europe question clip erstwhile compared to the Suez Canal.

Greenland besides sits astride the alleged GIUK gap, a naval choke constituent betwixt Greenland, Iceland and the U.K. that links the Arctic to the Atlantic Ocean.

Alongside its strategical geopolitical position, Greenland is known for an abundance of untapped earthy materials, from lipid and state reserves to captious mineral deposits and a treasure trove of uncommon world elements.

These captious minerals and uncommon world elements are captious components successful emerging technologies, specified arsenic upwind turbines, electrical vehicles, vigor retention technologies, and nationalist information applications. China repeatedly sought to leverage its adjacent monopoly of uncommon earths to exert unit connected the U.S. past year.

"Trump is simply a existent property guy," Clayton Allen, caput of signifier astatine Eurasia Group, a governmental hazard consultancy, told CNBC by video call.

"Greenland is sitting connected immoderate of the astir invaluable existent property successful presumption of economical vantage and strategical defence for the adjacent 3 to 5 decades."

To beryllium sure, the U.S. already has a beingness successful Greenland. The Pituffik Space Base, formerly Thule Air Base, is located successful the northwest of Greenland, conscionable crossed the Baffin Bay from Nunavut, Canada.

It is estimated that astir 150 U.S. work members are permanently stationed there, down from astir 6,000 during the Cold War era.

"For bully reasons, the U.S. has an aboriginal informing aerial basal successful northwestern Greenland due to the fact that the shortest way for a Russian ballistic rocket to scope the continental United States is via Greenland and the North Pole," said Otto Svendsen, subordinate chap with the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program astatine the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based deliberation tank.

The base, which besides has an progressive airfield and is location to the world's northernmost deep-water port, has traditionally been pivotal to the monitoring of Russian submarines traversing the GIUK gap, Svendsen said.

"A much caller and emerging menace oregon origin is the information that Greenland straddles 2 imaginable shipping routes done the Arctic, the Northwest Passage and the Transpolar Sea Route," Svendsen told CNBC by telephone.

"And arsenic clime alteration continues to render those routes much viable, determination are commercialized interests determination arsenic good that adhd to the nationalist information worth of the island," helium added.

Opinion polls person antecedently shown that Greenlanders overwhelmingly reason U.S. control, portion a beardown bulk enactment independency from Denmark.

Analysts accidental that Greenland could beryllium utile to the U.S. arsenic a staging crushed for a greater antiaircraft beingness and arsenic a determination for U.S. rocket interceptors — peculiarly successful the discourse of 1 of the Trump administration's cardinal policies: a "Golden Dome" rocket defence system.

The multibillion-dollar initiative, rolled retired successful May past twelvemonth and often compared to Israel's "Iron Dome" system, is simply a visionary program designed to shield the U.S. from each rocket attacks.

"The U.S. needs entree to the Arctic and it doesn't truly person that overmuch nonstop entree today. Greenland has a tremendous amount. The U.S. needs aerial defenses deployed person and person to Russia to combat adjacent procreation weapons that are not presently defensible with what we person available. Greenland provides that," Eurasia Group's Allen said.

"Trump wants to physique a 'Golden Dome' implicit the U.S.," helium continued. "Part of that is going to person to beryllium connected Greenland."

For some, Trump's assertion that annexing Greenland is simply a halfway portion of U.S. nationalist information has raised eyebrows. The declaration marks a notable displacement successful code from astir a twelvemonth ago, erstwhile the past president-elect cited "economic security" arsenic a superior origin for annexing the island.

Marion Messmer, manager of the International Security Programme astatine London's Chatham House deliberation tank, acknowledged that it is existent to accidental that some Russia and China person accrued their subject activities successful the Arctic successful caller years — and, if Moscow launched missiles astatine the U.S., they would apt alert implicit Greenland.

"However, what is not wide is wherefore Washington needs afloat power implicit Greenland to support itself," Messmer said successful a written investigation published Tuesday.

She cited the information that the U.S. already has a beingness astatine Pituffik Space Base, arsenic good arsenic a decades-old defence statement with Denmark that allows Washington to proceed to usage it.

"During the Cold War, the US stationed up to 6,000 troops crossed a scope of camps crossed the island," Messmer said. "It could presumably surge unit beingness again if it felt it needed a greater beingness successful the portion – without disputing Danish sovereignty."