Name: Why Donald Trump is so fixated with Greenland
Uploaded: 2026-01-07T06:43:24.000Z
Duration: 2 min 28 s
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Why is Donald Trump so fixated with Greenland?

Modal verbs - B1

And why are people worried that that fixation might see the dismantling of NATO?

Greenland is the largest non continental island in the world, but

it's home to only around 56,000 people, most of them the indigenous Inuit population.

It's a semi autonomous territory of Denmark.

So why is it in the eyesight of one of the most powerful men in the world?

The short answer is military strategy and, of course, money.

First of all, of course, it's close to Russia, but

it's also on a key maritime route to the North Atlantic.

It sits astride what's known as the Greenland Iceland, UK Gap.

And so from Greenland, the US Is able to monitor, for example, movements of Russian submarines, or maybe even in the future, Chinese submarines through to the North Atlantic.

It's also home to one of the most strategic US bases.

The Bodefique Space base is critically important to the US because of its positioning just 1000 miles from the North Pole.

It allows unparalleled missile warning and also space surveillance capabilities.

This is because of the understanding that if Russia were to fire an intercontinental ballistic missile at the US it would probably use the polar regions.

Greenland is fast becoming the center of a superpower contest over the Arctic.

But it's not just the military significance of Greenland that has got Donald Trump interested.

Greenland has vast untapped deposits of rare earth minerals that are really important for making things like smartphones, electric vehicles, and

That market right now is dominated by China, when nearly 60% of rare earth minerals are mined.

Donald Trump obviously would like to change that with Greenland, but

with this increasingly hostile language, he's putting himself directly against NATO partner Denmark and also his natural allies in Europe.

European leaders, including our own, have issued increasingly strong statements warding Donald Trump off from a takeover of Greenland.

That's become increasingly concerning with unilateral action taken in places like Venezuela.

He's previously spoken about buying Greenland, and now he's talking about having it.

The US argues that as the most powerful member of NATO, they should have control over this massive strategic asset.

The question is, what would be the impact of that?

Certainly, going up against Denmark could see the total breakdown of NATO partnerships.