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President Donald Trump on Tuesday renewed his call for the United States to control Greenland, arguing the Arctic island's strategic location makes it vital to U.S. national security as Washington intensifies efforts to counter growing Russian and Chinese activity in the High North.
Speaking to reporters alongside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the NATO summit in Ankara, Trump said Greenland "should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark," reviving a long-running campaign that has repeatedly strained relations with Copenhagen, a fellow NATO ally.
"Greenland doesn't help Denmark," Trump said, arguing Copenhagen does not invest enough in the territory. He added that the island was "surrounded by China ships and Russian ships," underscoring what he described as its growing strategic importance to U.S. security.
The vast majority of Russian and Chinese Arctic maritime activity in recent years occured in proximity to Alaska, not Greenland.
Trump's remarks immediately drew renewed opposition from Danish and Greenlandic leaders, who reiterated that the autonomous Danish territory is not for sale and that its future must be decided by the people of Greenland.
"It is a well-known position of the United States that it wants to own and take over Greenland. I ?hope that it is equally well-known everywhere that this is not going to happen," Danish Prime Minister Mette ?Frederiksen said.
The comments revive an issue that first emerged during Trump's first presidential term, when he floated the idea of purchasing Greenland in 2019 before returning to the subject repeatedly during his second administration. The United States already maintains the strategically important Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a key installation for missile warning and space surveillance.
Trump's latest remarks come as the United States accelerates a broader effort to rebuild its Arctic capabilities amid growing competition with Russia and China.
Construction has begun on the first of the U.S. Coast Guard's new Arctic Security Cutters in Finland, marking the start of a program intended to restore U.S. icebreaking capacity. The first vessels are scheduled for delivery beginning in 2028, with Congress having authorized a fleet of up to 11 Arctic Security Cutters under contracts led by Bollinger Shipyards and Canada's Davie.
The modernization effort reflects growing concern in Washington that Russia retains by far the world's largest fleet of icebreakers while China has steadily expanded its Arctic presence through research expeditions, icebreaker deployments and investments in polar infrastructure.
Beijing is again dispatching four research vessels and icebreakers to the Arctic this summer, following last year's unusually large expedition that included five Chinese government vessels. During that mission, several ships operated in the Bering Sea and Bering Strait near Alaska, where they were repeatedly shadowed by U.S. military aircraft and Coast Guard assets.
Those operations have fueled concerns among U.S. lawmakers and defense officials that scientific missions increasingly serve broader strategic objectives, including hydrographic surveying, seabed mapping and familiarization with future shipping routes as Arctic sea ice retreats.
Washington has likewise placed increasing emphasis on freedom of navigation, Arctic maritime domain awareness and expanding Coast Guard operations across the region as competition intensifies over shipping lanes, critical minerals, and military access.
Trump tied Greenland directly to those security concerns on Tuesday, portraying the island as an indispensable strategic asset positioned between North America, Europe, and the Arctic Ocean.
