Donald Trump lets slip the precise motive he desires to personal Greenland

The US President has long insisted control of the territory is important for US national security. But he’s mostly cited vague concerns about Russian and Chinese ships having free rein in the region around Greenland to back up his claim

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Donald Trump has let the real reason he wants to own Greenland so much slip in a post on Truth Social.

The US President has long insisted control of the territory is important for US national security. But he’s mostly cited vague concerns about Russian and Chinese ships having free rein in the region around Greenland to back up his claim. In response, the UK, NATO and Denmark have offered to step up their security operations in the area – hoping that will be enough to talk Trump down from invading the Danish territory.

But a post Trump published on Truth Social this afternoon suggests another reason – one which would make ownership much more advantageous. “The United States needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security,” he wrote. “It is vital for the Golden Dome that we are building.”

The Golden Dome is a proposed missile defence system – similar to Israel’s Iron Dome – which Trump has suggested the US is building throughout his first year back in the Oval Office. Details of the Golden Dome are scant, but US arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin has come forward with a concept for a “layered defence shield” to “safeguard the American homeland.”

Trump went on: “NATO should be leading the way for us to get it. IF WE DON’T, RUSSIA OR CHINA WILL, AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! Militarily, without the vast power of the United States, much of which I built during my first term, and am now bringing to a new and even higher level, NATO would not be an effective force or deterrent – Not even close! They know that, and so do I.”

He added: “NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES. Anything less than that is unacceptable.”

Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, is at the center of a geopolitical storm as Trump insists he wants to own it — and residents of its capital, Nuuk, say it isn’t for sale. The White House hasn’t ruled out Trump taking the Arctic island by force.

Vance, along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, is to meet Denmark’s foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt in Washington later Wednesday to discuss Greenland.

Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen told a news conference in Copenhagen on Tuesday that “if we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark. We choose NATO. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU.”

Asked later Tuesday about Nielsen’s comments, Trump replied: “I disagree with him. I don’t know who he is. I don’t know anything about him. But, that’s going to be a big problem for him.”

Greenland is strategically important because, as climate change causes the ice to melt, it opens up the possibility of shorter trade routes to Asia. That also could make it easier to extract and transport untapped deposits of critical minerals which are needed for computers and phones.

This week, Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said that “we will continue to strengthen our military presence in Greenland” and underlined a consensus among NATO members that the alliance must take greater responsibility for security in the Arctic and North Atlantic.

Denmark has said the US, which already has a military presence, can boost its bases on Greenland. For that reason, “security is just a cover,” Vintner said, suggesting Trump actually wants to own the island to make money from its untapped natural resources.

Nørgaard said he filed a police complaint in Nuuk against Trump’s “aggressive” behavior because, he said, American officials are threatening the people of Greenland and NATO.

Mikaelsen, the student, said Greenlanders benefit from being part of Denmark, which provides free health care, education and payments during study, and “I don’t want the US to take that away from us.”