Why Does Trump Want to Grab Greenland by Hook or by Crook
US President Trump is stepping up efforts to annex #Greenland after his success in Venezuela. Actually, the USA has been trying for more than a century to own Greenland. At the World Economic Forum 2026 (#WEF2026) in Davos, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent underscored that the US needs Greenland as part of its #GoldenDome missile system.
President Trump also believes that the #CriticalMinerals lying under the ground around Greenland could play an important role in derisking its reliance on China for #RareEarths, in particular.
However, the people of Greenland have expressed strong opposition and organized demonstrations on several occasions that their land is not for sale and demanded to ‘Make America Go Away’ as an alternate word play on ‘Make America Great Again’, or #MAGA.
Denmark allocates approximately USD 700 million annually to support Greenland. Based on the latest estimates, the population of Greenland is only about 56,000. Outside Australia — with a land area of 7.7 million square kilometers — Greenland is the largest island in the world, with a surface area of nearly 2.2 million square kilometers.
Some marine logistics experts also point out that Greenland lies right on the #ArcticRoutes, which could cut transit time between Asia and Western Europe, and Northern America. The length of time that the Arctic Routes stay navigable is also being extended due to global warming, caused by #ClimateChange.
Trump has expressed his resolve to grab Greenland ‘by one way or another.’ After even European NATO countries expressed opposition to his plan, he announced punitive #tariffs on these countries. UK PM Keir Starmer called Trump’s move ‘completely wrong’; US President Donald Trump retorted that the UK’s ceding of sovereignty over Chagos was ‘an act of great stupidity’, despite backing the very same idea a few months ago.
It is worth recalling that the USA already has a military base in Greenland, and certain European countries argue that there is probably nothing more that the US would gain by owning Greenland, as it can probably do whatever it needs to do via negotiation.
However, Trump dangles the threat of Russia and China to justify securing full control over Greenland. In response, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson rebuffed this claim and urged the US to stop using China as ‘a pretext’ to advance its own interests.
Some years ago, the US is believed to have intervened to stop Chinese companies from getting a toehold in Greenland by stopping the upgrade project of the airport going to a major Chinese civil contractor.
Trump is expected to deliver his remarks at Davos on Wednesday, 21st of January 2026. It is believed that on the sidelines of #WEF2026, the issue of Greenland will be a high-stakes item on the agenda.