Back on the Radar: U.S. Acquisition of Greenland for Strategic Reasons

---

Written by Paul Wiseman for IIR News (Sugar Land Texas)

---

Summary

After about a year on the back burner, recent U.S. action in Venezuela and White House comments about security have pushed talk of the U.S. acquiring Greenland back to the forefront.

---

Déjà vu All Over Again

Almost exactly a year ago (right after the Inauguration), IIR News ran a story titled "Why Would Anybody Want to Buy Greenland?". It listed resources such as minerals and oil and gas, most of which are a long way from being mined at all, and even further from profitability.

At the bottom of that list was national security, which now has risen to the top in light of recent U.S. action in Venezuela and not-so-subtle White House jabs aimed at Cuba and other Latin American nations.

Game of Risk

Greenland's security role for the U.S. was recognized as far back as World War II, when then-Secretary of Defense James Byrnes offered Denmark US$100 million for the island as a location for U.S. military bases. Then, as now, the Danish government was having none of that.

Meanwhile, the island is home to the U.S.'s northernmost installation, the Pituffik Space Base and its missile defense system. The facility was previously known as Thule Air Base.

With 80% of its mass located north of the Arctic Circle, the island nation stands at the crossroads of both Russian and Chinese military and trade route shortcuts to North America. And the recent receding of the polar ice cap has opened more avenues, for more times of the year, than had been available before. It is ironic that a president that is a climate change denier recognizes the increased risks presented by that change.

Another irony is that, at least according to the Iceland Discover website, the island was warmer than it is now when the Vikings discovered it a thousand years ago, explaining the name that is now a misnomer. See Footnote (1).

President Trump definitely sees a military threat. A Tuesday White House statement said acquiring Greenland was a national security priority in order to "deter our adversaries in the Arctic region."

Further, "The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the U.S. military is always an option at the commander-in-chief's disposal."

Good Night, NATO?

Before the release of that statement, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederickson had declared that an American takeover of Greenland, under any unwelcome method, would end the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), of which Denmark is a longtime member. She said, "If the United States chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops. That is, including our NATO and thus the security that has been provided since the end of the Second World War."

Frederickson, along with Greenland Prime Minister Jens Frederik Nielsen, has strongly condemned the U.S. action in Venezuela.

The game here is larger than just U.S. ambitions. In what is being called "The Polar Great Game," Russia--which since 2022 has flexed military muscle in Ukraine--and China. The latter is calling itself a "near-Arctic state" and is exerting political and economic influence in Africa and South America. It is also seeing new tensions with the right-wing government recently elected in Japan.

All three superpowers are viewing Greenland and its Arctic seaways as a threat/opportunity, both economically and militarily.

Industrial Info's Lakings: Is Greenland Seward's Follow-up?

Industrial Info's Energy Market Strategist Geoffrey S. Lakings sees a parallel with the 1867 U.S. purchase of Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million (about $ .02 per acre), engineered by then-Secretary of State William H. Seward.

"While that was famously derided as 'Seward's Folly'--before the discoveries of gold (1870s and the big one in 1898) and oil, at the time it was a strategic move," Lakings pointed out. Greenland's stores of minerals and oil, while still untapped, are certainly one area of interest.

Russia sold Alaska because it needed money after the expenses of the Crimean War--and Denmark has no such issues regarding Greenland, so that's not an option this time. But strategically, "The U.S. then was looking for expansion room and a strategic Pacific outpost.

Russia may not have then been the world power it became during World War II, but it still stretched across multiple time zones and was one of the largest nations in the world."

Now, with a major military behind it and a leader who has proven ready to invade nearby nations, Russia's power gives the Trump Administration at least some reason to seek Arctic security, Lakings noted.

Hands in the Cookie Jar?

While politics have taken a front seat since January 4, the economics are still a key part of the equation.

China sees the availability of Arctic trade routes as a shortcut to the West, bypassing many much longer routes to the south. While China is not truly an Arctic nation, it is still in the north of the Northern Hemisphere.

As for minerals, the previous IIR News story noted that Industrial Info was tracking 15 mining projects in Greenland in January 2025. That count has now risen to 22. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Metals & Minerals Project Database can click here for the project reports.

Anybody Home?

Greenland is home to only about 56,000 mostly Inuit people who are happy with the current relationship with Denmark although they are geographically part of the Americas. Almost all live in the less-frozen south and make a living from fishing and hunting.

NATO membership has historically provided them with the backing of powerful neighbors against threats from any direction. If the prime ministers of Denmark and Greenland are correct, this protection could be changing.

Footnote (1): From Iceland Discover: "A thousand years ago the area the Vikings landed in Greenland (probably to hunt walruses' for their ivory as they had been hunted to extinction in Iceland) was warmer than it is today, so it makes perfect sense that it would be green, and the Vikings would call it 'Greenland.'"

By the Numbers

• No. 1: Greenland is the largest island that isn't a continent.
• 80%: Amount of Greenland's land that is north of the Arctic Circle
• 3 superpowers that are eyeing Greenland's position near newly-thawing Arctic trade and military access routes
• 56,000 Greenland citizens who would like to be heard.

Key Takeaways

• After Venezuelan action for security and mineral access reasons, the White House reopens talk of other strategic acquisitions, including Greenland.
• Greenland and Denmark, for whom the former is an autonomous territory, see the U.S. threat, if carried out, as being the end of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

---

About IIR News
IIR News is a trusted source of news for the industrial process and energy markets, powered by Industrial Info Resource's Global Market Intelligence (GMI).

About Industrial Info Resources
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 250,000 current and future projects worth $30.2 Trillion (USD).