Buying Greenland Is Not as Crazy as It Sounds

Buying Greenland Is Not as Crazy as It Sounds
“We need Greenland for national security purposes,” United States President Donald Trump said January 7.
His talk of buying Greenland has been treated as an item for the “news of the weird” section or a social media meme. But Trump seems serious. He continues to push the idea, while Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte Egede is pushing for independence from Denmark. The United States is in a good position to help defend and develop an Independent Republic of Greenland, so Egede is anxious to meet with Trump soon. Such a meeting probably wouldn’t result in statehood right away, but negotiating a new U.S.–Greenland defense agreement is a top priority.
Control of Greenland enables control of maritime traffic in the North Atlantic and exploitation of the Arctic. It dominates the giuk Gap (Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom); continental European powers like Germany or Russia must either cross this gap or travel through the much narrower English Channel to make it out to the wide Atlantic.

The U.S. has tried to acquire Greenland before. In 1868, the U.S. almost made Denmark an offer for Greenland and Iceland. In 1946, the U.S. offered Denmark $100 million in gold bars for Greenland, calling it a “military necessity.” There was even talk of swapping a chunk of Alaska in exchange.
Even before the U.S. entered World War ii, it invaded Greenland—kind of. Fifteen volunteers were discharged from the U.S. Coast Guard and sent in as “security guards” for Greenland’s cryolite mine, America’s only source of a mineral used in the manufacture of aluminum. The U.S. Navy supplied these guards with machine guns and naval artillery.
Once the U.S. entered the war, Greenland became a de facto American protectorate. Around 10,000 planes landed at the Narsarsuaq Air Base on the southern tip of Greenland. It remained a U.S. base at the start of the Cold War and was used by jets flying between Europe and America. Operating a base so far north led to some unique challenges: A small tugboat had to be used to shift icebergs out of the flight path of the jets.
The giuk Gap took on even more importance during the Cold War. Nick Childs of the International Institute for Strategic Studies said this northern flank was a “theater that came to be seen by both sides as second only in importance to the European Central Front.” The U.S. set up a network of sensors to track Russian submarines entering the Atlantic.
Direct flights between the U.S. and Russia pass through Greenland airspace. This was a factor in the most tragic episode in America’s relationship with Greenland. In 1968, a B-52 bomber crashed near America’s Thule Air Base in Greenland while carrying nuclear bombs. The conventional explosives on board detonated. Thankfully, the nuclear bombs didn’t—but the explosion spread nuclear material over the area. It was a major scandal, since Greenland was supposedly a nuclear-free zone.
Greenland was and is a likely front line for any nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia. Firing ballistic missiles across Greenland provides certain military advantages. That is why the U.S. maintains this air base—now called Pituffik Space Base—which operates a Baltic missile early warning system, as well as the world’s northernmost deepwater port.
In recent years, Greenland has become even more important. Shipping lanes along Russia’s northern coast heading east and Canada’s northern coast heading west are becoming more viable and possibly quite lucrative.
The Arctic could also have a wealth of natural resources. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates the Arctic holds 30 percent of the undiscovered natural gas in the world and 13 percent of its oil. Greenland could have major oil reserves. It is also estimated to have 38 million tons of rare earth deposits, minerals needed for manufacturing advanced technologies.
These raw materials are likely a nice bonus rather than the main reason Trump is interested in the island. Arizona, for example, has just under 1 billion tons of rare earth deposits. The trouble is getting them out of the ground without polluting the surrounding area. China currently has a virtual monopoly on rare earths, not because they are actually very rare but because its regime doesn’t care about poisoning the locals, so it can process them much more cheaply than anyone else.
Greenland’s real value is as a sea gate: Watch for it and other strategic maritime chokepoints to become more significant—and more contested—in the months and years ahead.