President Donald Trump’s musings about purchasing Greenland have been lampooned by many commentators in the media. But Trump’s bid highlights a serious foreign policy issue: a broad pattern of efforts to keep Greenland under U.S. influence as it moves toward independence from Denmark.
As observers have noted, the United States cannot purchase Greenland without the consent of its inhabitants, who are no longer colonial subjects of Denmark.
Last year, Trump drew widespread criticism when he considered the idea of buying Greenland, a self-governing island within the Kingdom of Denmark. The sparsely populated island is home to about 56,000 inhabitants, the majority of whom are Greenlandic Inuit.
“Essentially, it’s a large real estate deal,” the President said.
As observers have noted, the United States cannot purchase Greenland without the consent of its inhabitants, who are no longer colonial subjects of Denmark. Since 1979, the Greenlandic people have administered their island through their own government. The Act on Greenland Self-Government, passed by the Danish parliament in 2009, recognized the Greenlandic people’s right to self-determination and granted them a pathway to independence.
“Most Danish politicians understand and accept that Greenland is slowly moving toward independence,” U.S. diplomats in Denmark reported in 2007, two years before the passage of the historic legislation. “The Danish-Greenlandic relationship, while complex and sometimes bumpy, rests on a shared assumption of eventual independence for Greenland.”
Although the people of Greenland have not yet opted for independence, many Greenlanders hope to achieve independence. The primary issue holding them back is the large block grant of about $600 million that they receive from Denmark every year. The annual subsidy funds about half of the Greenlandic government’s annual budget.
Last year, when President Trump tweeted an edited image of a Trump Tower on top of a coastal village in Greenland, he deeply offended many Greenlanders but did not appear to cause permanent damage to bilateral relations. U.S. diplomats have been working closely with the governments of Greenland and Denmark to prepare for the reopening of a U.S. consulate in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital.
The National
Nuuk, Greenland
“I am pleased to announce we will reopen our consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, this summer for the first time since 1953,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced in late April.
Plans to reopen a diplomatic mission in Greenland date back to the final years of the George W. Bush Administration, when U.S. diplomats in Denmark began making a major push to establish a diplomatic presence in Greenland. According to multiple U.S. diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks, U.S. diplomats viewed a diplomatic presence as a way to influence Greenland’s future as it moved toward independence.
In a 2007 cable titled “Shaping Greenland’s Future,” the diplomats identified “a unique opportunity to shape the circumstances in which an independent nation may emerge.” The creation of a small diplomatic presence, the diplomats argued, “would provide us with the needed diplomatic platform to seek out new opportunities and advance growing [United States Government] interests in Greenland.”
The diplomats identified multiple U.S. interests in Greenland, including the U.S. military presence at the Thule Air Base and U.S. commercial investments in energy resources. Citing a study by the U.S. Geological Survey, the diplomats noted that the continental shelf off of Greenland’s northeast coast could contain large oil and gas reserves.
The diplomats seemed hardly concerned about climate change, which was already causing significant melting of Greenland’s ice sheet and sea ice. “Greenland holds strategic value for the United States beyond its starring role in the global narrative of climate change,” they wrote.
A major concern of U.S. officials has been whether they can secure their strategic interests if the Greenlandic people opt for independence. As the diplomats noted in another cable, Greenlanders may be more sympathetic to the Non-Aligned Movement, which tends to adopt independent positions in global affairs.
Most Greenlanders “seem satisfied with seeking independence at a thoughtful and measured pace—at least until that one big oil strike,” U.S. diplomats reported in 2007.
From 2017 to 2018, the Trump Administration got a taste of how an independent Greenland might operate when its government began courting China for help with developing several airports. After learning about Greenland’s outreach to China, U.S. officials began pressuring Greenlandic officials to drop the Chinese offers and accept an alternative deal with the Danish government.
The Trump Administration’s pressure campaign succeeded, but the incident revealed that a more independent Greenland might look beyond its historic relations with Denmark and the United States to develop its economy.
Today, Greenland is facing several additional challenges, including the coronavirus pandemic and the rapid melting of its ice sheet. Although Greenland has been strikingly successful in containing the spread of COVID-19—as of May 13, it had recorded just eleven cases of the coronavirus and no deaths—it has been far more ambivalent about climate change. Not only has it refused to join the Paris Climate Agreement, but it largely sees climate change as a pathway to independence.
As Greenland’s ice sheet and sea ice melt, its energy and mineral riches are becoming more easily accessible, creating opportunities for energy and mining companies. Many Greenlandic officials hope to tap into these resources to generate new revenue to grow Greenland’s economy and end the island’s financial dependence on Denmark.
Most Greenlanders “seem satisfied with seeking independence at a thoughtful and measured pace—at least until that one big oil strike,” U.S. diplomats reported in 2007.
Currently, the Trump Administration is helping the Greenlandic government map its mineral resources and is offering aid to develop the island’s energy and tourism industries. As the United States faces growing competition from China and Russia over the Arctic, U.S. officials are sharpening their focus on Greenland.
“Everyone knows that Greenland is the key to the Arctic,” U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Carla Sands remarked in a speech last year.
The growing U.S. interest in Greenland leaves the people of the island in an increasingly precarious position, as they continue exploring opportunities for independence in a world that is growing increasingly unstable by climate change, the coronavirus pandemic, and great-power competition between China, Russia, and the United States.