Trump's Greenland ambitions have world repercussions

Protesters attend a march to the US consulate throughout an illustration, underneath the slogan ‘Greenland belongs to the Greenlandic folks’, in Nuuk, Greenland, on March 15, 2025.

Christian Klindt Soelbeck | Afp | Getty Photographs

U.S. President Donald Trump’s ambitions round Greenland are quickly gaining concrete kind — that’s, evolving from rhetoric into motion.

Mining firm Amaroq instructed CNBC the White Home has been having discussions with the agency over investing in its mining initiatives in Greenland. If it is a purely enterprise transaction, which may not be unwelcome: Aaja Chemnitz, the member of parliament representing Greenland within the Danish Parliament, and chair of the Greenland Committee, instructed CNBC that the island is “open for enterprise.”

Being open for enterprise, nevertheless, doesn’t imply welcoming a takeover bid. “It has been fairly clear from the start that Greenland isn’t on the market and by no means might be,” Chemnitz mentioned.

However that may very well be on the agenda for U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s deliberate assembly with Danish authorities subsequent week. Whereas the assembly was initiated by Denmark’s international minister, Lokke Rasmussen, and his Greenlandic counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, Rubio might be seeking to focus on how the U.S. can acquire the Arctic island.

Within the very hypothetical state of affairs — let’s name it a thought experiment — that the U.S. buys Greenland, the island could be valued at nearly $2.8 trillion, in accordance with a center-right U.S. suppose tank, although different events put that determine decrease.

Rubio may even must navigate thorny points, comparable to coping with Greenlander’s want for independence and Europe’s response. As for different world powers, whereas Russia is conspicuously quiet — most likely as a result of it’s extra serious about seeing any division in NATO over this affair — China is keenly watching developments, having described itself as a “near-Arctic state” in 2018. Any transaction — or operation — on this scale can have world repercussions.

What it’s good to know at the moment

U.S. contemplating investing in mining initiatives in Greenland. Amaroq, which operates on the island, mentioned the White Home is speaking to it about investment in its projects that extract or discover gold, gallium and different essential mineral deposits.

Trump administration races to provide you with Greenland takeover plan. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is about to meet Denmark officials subsequent week to debate the state of affairs. Listed here are four key issues surrounding the assembly.

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