Greenland has once again become a focal point of global geopolitics, as minerals, rare earths and strategic positioning fuel growing interest from major powers. In early February 2025, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen reiterated a clear message: “Greenland is not for sale.” Yet former US President Donald Trump has continued to insist on the island’s strategic and economic value, while a Danish intelligence report has explicitly listed the United States among potential risk factors for Denmark’s national security. These tensions were evident during the meeting held on 8 December in Nuuk, the Greenlandic capital, of the Committee for International Cooperation on trade and minerals, education and science. Established in 2004, the committee brings together Greenland, Denmark and the United States. The meeting, attended by the new US Ambassador to Denmark Kenneth Howery, Danish Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt and Greenlandic representatives, confirmed a pragmatic approach aimed at flexible negotiations rather than open confrontation over long-standing American ambitions toward Greenland—ambitions that date back as far as 1867 and resurfaced strongly during the Trump presidency. At the same time, pressure is also coming from the east. Russia, under Vladimir Putin, has increased its claims in the Arctic, from Norway’s Svalbard archipelago to broader areas of the Arctic Ocean. Moscow is pursuing interests not only in military positioning but also in fisheries, rare earths and mineral exploitation, including potential access to Greenland’s resources. The Arctic thus becomes a complex chessboard where East–West competition is intensified by the race for critical minerals. Military infrastructure adds another layer of tension. US bases in Greenland, originally established during the Second World War, remain crucial for ballistic missile defence. They stand in relative proximity to an expanding Russian Arctic military presence, including the Severny Klever base on Kotelny Island and installations in Franz Josef Land. Russia claims that around 40 percent of the world’s remaining fossil fuel reserves lie beneath the Arctic seabed, further raising the stakes. Notably absent from this power struggle is a strong European voice, despite Denmark’s EU membership. Equally sidelined are the rights of the Inuit and Greenland’s native population, many of whom continue to push for full independence. The risk, critics argue, is that Greenland could become the subject of informal power-sharing between the US and Russia, echoing Cold War–style arrangements and ignoring both Danish sovereignty and indigenous aspirations. While official statements after recent talks emphasised harmony and “mutual respect” between Denmark, Greenland and the United States, key questions remain unresolved. Who will ultimately control the extraction of Greenland’s rare earths—resources that require advanced, largely American technology, but fall under Danish and Greenlandic jurisdiction? And how far will US influence in the Arctic extend? In this sense, Greenland finds itself sharing a paradoxical fate with distant regions such as Taiwan and parts of Ukraine: geographically far apart, yet united by the same problem—being strategically vital territories coveted by global powers for their rare earths and resources.
