On January 1, the King of Denmark unveiled a new coat of arms after more than 50 years. It features the polar bear and the ram (symbolising Greenland and the Faroe Islands, respectively) more prominently than before. Amid calls for independence in Greenland and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s aggressive push to buy/annex the island, the Royal House seems to be underscoring the Danish realm’s unity.
Greenland, the world’s largest island with a population of 57,000, is an autonomous territory controlled by Denmark. This effectively means that while it has a Parliament which deals with domestic affairs such as business taxes, immigration, and mining, most of its foreign, monetary and military policy are dictated by Denmark. The Arctic island was colonised by the Danes in the 18th century and has been associated with Europe, though geographically it is part of the North American continent and closer to the U.S. than Copenhagen.
During the Second World War, the U.S. briefly occupied the region and defended it when Denmark was under siege by Nazi Germany.
Noting the region’s geopolitical importance, the U.S. in 1946, after the War, had offered to buy it from Denmark. Denmark rejected the offer and ever since Greenland has been a part of the Danish realm with home rule granted to the island in 1979. The U.S. runs and operates an air base on the island. However, of late, calls for complete independence from Denmark have been rising in the island especially after the contraceptive scandal between the 1960s and 1990s came to light, where almost 4,500 Inuit women (the indigenous people of Greenland) were forced to wear a contraceptive coil without their consent. Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte Egede in his New Year address talked about taking the “next step” and removing the “shackles of colonialism”.
U.S. aspirations
In his first term in office, Mr. Trump had floated the idea of buying Greenland. However, this time it seems the President-elect is serious. “For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity,” he in December. Following such a declaration, Donald Trump Jr., Mr. Trump’s son, visited Greenland this year as a “private individual”. Both Greenland and Danish Prime Ministers have shut down such threats and plans. Mr. Egede has categorically stated that “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders”.
Mr. Trump seems unfazed. Speaking to the press last week, Mr. Trump underlined the importance of the island for U.S security and said he won’t rule out military or economic coercion to annex/buy the island.
The island is surrounded by the Atlantic on one side and the Arctic waters on the other. Due to climate change and global warming, glaciers and ice sheets in the Arctic Sea are melting, leading to potentially new shipping routes, which could greatly enhance trade. Moreover, Russia and China have already agreed to develop new trading routes in the Arctic waters as relations with the West sour and tensions in West Asia loom large.
Last November, both countries developed a subcommittee for cooperation on the northern sea route, which spans 5,600 km from the Barents Sea near Scandinavia to the Bering Strait near Alaska. With the threat of Russia-China cooperation in the region, annexing Greenland could give the U.S. significant control over the area, letting it decide who gets to run and operate in these strategic waters.
The island is also rich in minerals. As per a 2025 survey, 25 of 34 critical raw materials, which are used in EVs and batteries, were found in Greenland. The melting of almost 28,000 square km of Greenland’s ice sheets makes drilling for oil, gas and other critical raw materials easier. Currently, China is the world’s largest exporter and producer of critical minerals. Buying Greenland could make the U.S. compete with China for that status. However, Greenland has not given out certain mining leases since 2021 fearing the possible environmental and ecological harms to the region.
Mr. Trump has also issued calls to buy/annex the Panama Canal and Canada. While all of them have been touted as necessary for the U.S.’s economic and national security, the U.S. is breaking the first and fundamental rule of the UN Charter: recognising the sovereignty of nations. With respect to Greenland, the U.S. is going against the NATO agreement as well.
Similarly, the Arctic waters are a global common under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The incoming U.S. President’s policies are bringing to the forefront the true anarchical nature of international politics.
Published – January 12, 2025 01:45 am IST
