President-elect Donald Trump is threatening military and economic force against Denmark to gain control of Greenland. The autonomous territory is part of the Denmark kingdom, while the U.S. has maintained a military presence there since World War II.
“We need it for national security. That’s for the free world. I’m talking about protecting the free world,” Trump said this week.
He threatened to “tariff Denmark at a very high level” if it acted against him.
“We’re sitting in Denmark and thinking, ‘What’s he talking about? He already has military control,’” said Peter Viggo Jakobsen, a lecturer at the Royal Danish Defence College and expert on U.S.-Danish relations.
What’s he talking about? He already has military control.
Peter Viggo Jakobsen, Royal Danish Defence College
Trump’s threats have stunned the close U.S. ally, which Jakobsen says has Denmark “holding their breath and waiting” until Trump takes office.
“When Trump talks about military control of Greenland, then he probably missed a history lesson or two, because the U.S. already has military control of Greenland,” Jakobsen said.
Since WWII, the U.S. has been allowed to operate military bases in Greenland. Currently, the U.S. has Pituffik Space Base, formerly known as Thule Air Base.
“If you get into a military confrontation with Russia and Russia decides to fire a nuclear missile from Russia towards the United States, then the shortest route for a missile is crossing over Greenland,” Jakobsen explained. “And that is, of course, why the United States, back during the Cold War, established the Thule Air Base where they have this warning radar that will enable the U.S. to get a warning if Russia should decide to fire missiles against the United States.
“So it’s a vital part of the warning chain that the U.S. established during the Cold War to keep the American homeland safe,” he continued. “So, for that reason, it has become increasingly important as the relationship between the United States and Russia has deteriorated after the Russian decision to take Crimea and start the war on Ukraine in 2014.”
Jakobsen said under the current agreement between Denmark, Greenland and the U.S., the U.S. could expand its military presence or add additional military bases in Greenland simply by consulting and informing Copenhagen and Nuuk. With this in mind, Jakobsen said Denmark doesn’t understand what more Trump wants.
“At the moment, he only has to pick up the phone and say, ‘Hey, I would like another installation here. Could you please fix it?’ And that may also be what he has in mind, but we have no clue,” Jakobsen said.
However, should the U.S. gain control of Greenland over Denmark, Jakobsen points out that the U.S. would also have to take over the subsidies Denmark provides.
“In Greenland, they can’t afford to run their own state and they’re getting huge subsidies every year from the Danish state,” he said. “So on the one hand you have the Greenlanders wanting to decide everything themselves, but they still want Denmark to pay for it.”
“They can choose between being subsidized by Denmark or being subsidized by the United States because they cannot generate enough revenue of their own, either from mining or fishing or tourism, to basically pay for the subsidies that they are currently receiving from Copenhagen,” he added.
In the end, Jakobsen said controlling Greenland is not that strategically important from the Danish perspective, though he acknowledged a lot of Danes and politicians would disagree with that statement. He said the most important facet of Greenland is that it gives Denmark special access to the U.S.
“We can offer the United States something they want and we have these meetings in the Arctic Council and so on,” he said. “If Greenland were to go independent, I really don’t see that as a major strategic loss from the Danish perspective. Denmark would still be a valuable ally for the U.S. because we also control the straits that give you access to the Baltic Sea.”
